Four quick takes on a much needed win

Tennessee (15-12, 7-7) snapped a two-game losing streak today, handling Missouri (7-18, 2-11) 90-70. Here are four quick takes on what we just saw.

1 — Hit the ground running — Let’s get one thing straight. Missouri is not a good basketball team. That said, Tennessee handled business exactly like you want to when facing an outclassed, jump on them early and take all the drama out of the game.

Tennessee did that today to a Missouri team that brought a 32 game road losing streak into Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols jumped on the Tigers early, mostly as a result of their defense (with a healthy dose of Mizzou’s shooting struggles sprinkled in).

Tennessee jumped out to a 16-3 lead in the first eight minutes of play and really never looked back. Missouri briefly threatened to make a pretense of being competitive when they managed to string a 10-0 run together to cut the Vols lead to seven at one point in the first half.

That was the last hint that this would be anything but a blowout.

Tennessee hit the half with a 41-28 lead and proceeded to dominate the second half, pushing the lead out to as much as 24 points

2 — Is it the corn rows? — As we’ve noted here recently, Robert Hubbs has struggled for the past couple of weeks, really since putting up 25 points in the Vols win over Kentucky last month.

In the six games since then the Vols’ leading scorer has shot just 33% from the floor. It goes without saying that the Vols need Hubbs to produce if they’re going to be successful, and two of their ugliest losses, at Mississippi State and at Kentucky came in games where he scored four and seven points.

After the Kentucky loss Rick Barnes went out of his way to suggest that Hubbs was battling through some knee soreness that was making it difficult for him to practice full speed which hampers him in games.

Today Hubbs had a new look, going with corn rows in his hair, and whether that was the difference or not, he had his best game in almost a month.

He started off hot, converting a pair of three-point plays in the first five minutes of the game and led the Vols with 11 first half points.

He even took and made a three-pointer in the first half, just his fourth made three of the season.

Hubbs finished with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting and led the Vols with eight rebounds. He also committed zero turnovers in a team high 33 minutes.

Sure, playing a doormat like Missouri probably didn’t hurt when it came to putting up those numbers, but there was more to it than that. Hubbs looked better than he has at any point in the last six games and appeared to be fully engaged on both ends of the court.

3 — Great shot selection, another big Saturday for Williams — Tennessee generally knows what their about on offense, meaning they’re not a great three-point shooting team, they know it and generally play offense accordingly.

The Vols put up 20 three point attempts today, a little high for them, and knocked down eight (40%). At one point they were a healthy 6-for-11 from behind the arc.

It wasn’t prolific, but it was a good job of taking the shots that were there and not forcing anything.

As for Williams, nothing he does is a surprise anymore. Like most of his teammates, he struggled in Lexington this Tuesday but took it out on Missouri today.

The freshman was an absolute load in the paint, finishing the day with 25 points and five rebounds. He shot 6-of-12 from the field and was a rock solid 12-of-13 at the free throw line. He also made his only three-point attempt of the afternoon.

Give his teammates credit for finding him repeatedly once he had carved out his spot in the paint. That’s not always the case though it seems it’s something the Vols are doing a better job of as the season wears on.

In his last two home games Williams has now gone for 55 points.

When he and Hubbs are clicking like they were today Tennessee can be a tough team to guard.

4 — Let’s give Shembari a shout out —Finally, let’s give Shembari Phillips a shout out for his 10 points today. It’s been an up-and-down year for the sophomore to say the least. He’s not been in double digits since all the way back on Dec. 22 at ETSU.

He’s gone scoreless in four SEC games and only once, at Kentucky, has he managed to top five points since conference play began.

Today Phillips got some extended run with Jordan Bowden limited by illness. He took advantage of his 28 minutes of work, making 4-of-7 shots, 2-of-5 from three point range and he handed out three assists with just one turnover.

He’s a guy that the Vols really need to find a niche if they’re going to be at their best in the final weeks of the season. He’s the biggest guard on the roster, someone who can play a little point and can be a solid defender.

Phillips has had hard time finding consistent minutes, but he’s stuck with it and looks like he may be playing his way out of his coach’s dog house.