Tennessee looks to show 'poise' as critical final stretch looms
There might have been time in the last few months that Tennessee would have lost the kind of game is played at Missouri last Tuesday.
In five of the No. 5 Vols' six losses this season, head coach Rick Barnes can cite a lack of poise in critical moments on the road that have contributed to their defeat. So when Tennessee trailed early in the second half against the Tigers earlier this week, Barnes wanted to see how his team would handle it.
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The Vols rallied behind a second half resurgence, coming from behind to take the lead for good with less than 12 minutes left to beat Missouri, 72-67 and keep their SEC title hopes alive.
Now, Tennessee prepares for a daunting final stretch over the next five games that starts with a rematch against a Texas A&M team that beat the Vols in College Station less than two weeks ago.
“I think it is if you can look at yourself and be real with yourself and know that (poise) can work a couple different ways. I mean when things aren’t going well as a team and each player thinks, 'Well I got to go make something happen.'" Barnes said. "That’d losing your poise as a team and not trusting your teammates and trusting what we’ve done and what we do to get us to this point. And that’s a form of toughness too. Staying calm, cool, collected when it’s not going your way. But know that if you continue to let your habits work, you’d like to think in the end it’s going to work out for you.
"But I think it’s something that is learned. I’m not sure anybody’s born with it. I think it’s something by going through adversity and different trials in different areas they learn how to deal with it."
WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Tennessee basketball's Rick Barnes previews Texas A&M
If Tennessee has found a way to be more poised, it picked a good time.
A loss at Missouri would have been devastating to the Vols' conference regular season championship title hopes. Instead, their ability to overcome an abysmal shooting start keeps them in sole possession of second place in the league standings, just behind Alabama.
Tennessee, which beat them in the first of two meetings in January, will get its second shot at the Crimson Tide on March 2 in Tuscaloosa but it also has to play Auburn, South Carolina and Kentucky before the SEC Tournament.
The reason the Vols are still in the best shape to unseat Alabama goes back to a halftime decision from Barnes at Missouri.
Tennessee went with a bigger lineup in the second half with Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka on the floor at the same time. Dalton Knecht scoring 15 points in a five-minute stretch helped, but it was the lineup change that changed the trajectory in the Vols' favor.
Awaka scored a career-high 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double while Aidoo finished with 14 points and played every minute of the period.
"I do think that when we went big and that group we were down when we put that group in and we had a group out there. And again, defensively we were solid. But just the fact that those guys were able to come in and play the way they did, I think just shows that the versatility that we can play with our team and I mean, we could end up putting Josiah back on the perimeter where he played a lot so we can get even bigger if we want to.
"But it’s a matter of still, we’ve got to continue to improve defensively and with everything we’re doing on that end.”
WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Tennessee basketball forward Cade Phillips previews Texas A&M
It was decision Barnes said he has always had confidence in. It was just a matter of needing to do it.
Dominance in the paint will be key against the Aggies on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), who beat Tennessee on the glass in their previous meeting, 43-35. Having Aidoo and Awaka play the way they did against Missouri could be the difference again.
“(Rebounding) has got to get better. You’re talking about a team that again, there’s none better (at rebounding) really," Barnes said. "And it’s not just a matter of blocking out. You’ve got to be able to go finish the play and go get it. So I think anybody that plays against, some of the best teams know that rebounding is a major part of it and we’ve got to continue to get better there. I don’t think we are where we want to be and certainly what we need to be. We need to be there (Saturday)."
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