The Official #7 Tennessee vs. #13 Maryland Game Thread, 4:30 PM ET, FS1

[YankeeVol]

#7 Tennessee Volunteers: 8-1 (0-0 SEC)

vs.

#13 Maryland Terrapins: 8-1 (1-1 Big 10)

GAME 10 | TENNESSEE vs. MARYLAND - Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022 | 4:30 p.m. ET | New York, N.Y. | Barclays Center (19,000)

Line: UT -5.5
O/U: 132.5

TV: FS1 / Watch
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Maryland Notes

 

[YankeeVol]

THE SERIES

• Tennessee is designated as the visiting team Sunday.
• This is Tennessee's fourth trip to New York City under head coach Rick Barnes and third appearance at the Barclays Center (2015 Barclays Center Classic, 2018 NIT Season Tip-Off).
• Tennessee is 2-2 all-time against Maryland and 24-37 all-time vs. current members of the Big Ten.
• The last time Tennessee and Maryland met, Len Bias led the Terps to victory. See "Last Meeting" note below.
• Vols sophomore guard Zakai Zeigler hails from nearby Long Island, New York, just east of Barclays Center. Freshman forward Tobe Awaka grew up in Hyde Park and graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School.
• This marks the fourth time in the last five seasons that Tennessee has been invited to participate in a neutral-site event administered by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

 

[YankeeVol]

SCOUTING REPORT

• All-SEC senior Santiago Vescovi has missed UT's last two games with a left (shooting) shoulder sprain. Vescovi remains day-to-day.
• After shooting .440 from the field in UT's first four games, Olivier Nkamhoua has shot .667 over the last five outings.
• The Volunteers own the best adjusted defensive efficiency in the country, allowing only 82.6 points per 100 possessions.
• Seven times this season, the Vols have held their opponents to 50 points or less. Tennessee has now done that 27 times during the Barnes era (2015-present).
• Zakai Zeigler (10th) and Santiago Vescovi (17th) both rank among the Division I top 20 in steals per game.
• Tennessee has yet to trail at the break this season and is outscoring its opponents 34.1 ppg to 23.0 ppg (+11.1 ppg) in first-half action.

 

[YankeeVol]

BIG APPLE BITES

• Tennessee owns an all-time record of 9-19 in the state of New York. In New York City, the Vols are 7-18.
• The Vols own a 1-3 all-time record at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, with previous appearances in 2015 (0-2) and 2018 (1-1).
• Tennessee has produced five basketball All-Americans from New York: Ed Wiener (Brooklyn), Ernie Grunfeld (Forest Hills), Bernard King (Brooklyn), Howard Wood (East Hampton) and current 76ers star Tobias Harris (Dix Hills).
• Tennessee's all-time leading scorer and New York Knicks great Allan Houston is planning to attend Sunday's game.
• Several current Brooklyn Nets stars suffered losses vs. Tennessee during their college careers: Kevin Durant (2006), Markieff Morris (2010), Joe Harris (2013), Ben Simmons (2016) and Nic Claxton (2018 and 2019).
• Durant played for Rick Barnes at Texas in 2006-07 and was the national player of the year.

 

[YankeeVol]

ABOUT MARYLAND

• After winning eight straight games to start the season, Maryland (8-1) dropped its first contest of the year Tuesday night at Wisconsin, 64-59. Prior to falling to Wisconsin and a five-point win over No. 16 Illinois, the Terps had won each of their first seven games by at least 15 points.
• Maryland has already recorded two Quad 1 wins this season, taking down Miami and Illinois.
• The Terrapins are ranked No. 13 in this week's AP Poll—their highest AP ranking since the final poll of the 2019-20 season. Maryland also debuted at No. 6 in the NCAA's NET rankings prior to Tuesday's loss.
• Maryland is in its first season of the Kevin Willard era. Willard stepped into the Maryland job following 12 seasons as the head coach at Seton Hall, where he posted a 225-161 (.583) record and led the Pirates to the 2016 Big East title and five NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Willard is the first head coach in Maryland's program history to lead the team to an AP Top 25 ranking during his first season and also the first head coach in program history to lead the Terps to an 8-0 start.
• In his first season at Maryland after transferring from Charlotte, graduate guard Jahmir Young is the Terps' leading scorer with a 15.3 ppg average. Young was a two-time first-team All-Conference USA selection at Charlotte and the league's freshman of the year in 2020. Young has scored in double figures during all but one game this season and had a season-high 24 points during Maryland's win over No. 16 Illinois.
• Maryland has four players averaging at least 12.0 points per game—Young (15.3), senior forward Donta Scott (14.7), senior guard Hakim Hart (12.8) and sophomore forward Julian Reese (12.3).

 

[Jeff Clark]

Tennessee 75
Maryland 71

 

[YankeeVol]

Technically we are the away team, but it's vs.

 

[The Dog]

Vols 70
Terps 57

 

[cardvolfan]

Vols 70
Terps 57

Those turtles are fast.

 

[The Dog]

Those turtles are fast.

We slow down everybody, they ain't ready for this defense

 

[MAD]

Those turtles are fast.

Especially if you mention soup.

 

[cardvolfan]

Especially if you mention soup.

Funny!

 

[walkenvol]

UT - 59
Terps - 53

We’ve not shot well in New York lately

 

[Volfan1000]

If we pound the ball inside and look to Phillips as the main bucket getter, we should win this game 64-59.

 

[cardvolfan]

UT - 59
Terps - 53

We’ve not shot well in New York lately

We’ll be able to shoot right over the top of those little creatures.

 

[supersmo18]

 

[JRVOL11]

should be a pretty good battle, vols 72-67

 

[PureOrange]

Tennessee 68
Maryland 62

 

[therealitytheory]

I'd almost rather play this game in the Terp's gym than in NY. Still having TTU flashbacks..

 

[BruisedOrange]

Asking this because I've been off the grid for a couple weeks (my excuse for being ignorant).

The OP says Vescovi has missed UT's last two games with a left (shooting) shoulder sprain. Vescovi remains day-to-day.

Anyone know which this injury effects more: his shooting, his passing, or his defense? In other words, is the injury such that he can still contribute as a role player, without risking an injury setback?

 

[BruisedOrange]

I'd almost rather play this game in the Terp's gym than in NY. Still having TTU flashbacks..

But if successful today, a good time to exorcize those memory demons, well before tourney time.

 

[TMvol10]

Vols-60
Turtles-57

Gonna be a low scoring affair. Barclay’s Center has been unkind to the Vols offense and I don’t see that changing today. Defensive grind out game

 

[CAVPUT]

A big early game. Ranked opponent on a neutral floor. These are the kind of games that selection committees focus on when tournament seeding is on the line. A win would be huge. I know we've got some names notched on our belts already, but I wonder what they'll look like at the end of the season? I think Maryland has staying power.

 

[knoxvol52]

Hopefully with whole team back we can shine Vols 75 Terps 58. Phillips has another good game and JJJ starts to round into form but turnovers are going to have to decrease

 

[cardvolfan]

Asking this because I've been off the grid for a couple weeks (my excuse for being ignorant).

The OP says Vescovi has missed UT's last two games with a left (shooting) shoulder sprain. Vescovi remains day-to-day.

Anyone know which this injury effects more: his shooting, his passing, or his defense? In other words, is the injury such that he can still contribute as a role player, without risking an injury setback?

First of all, the shoulder is a major joint with lots of movable parts. I think it will affect everything he does, particularly shooting. One poster said he heard Barnes say “level 2” sprain. Possibly he meant a Grade 2 sprain, which is pretty complicated because those quite often involve the tearing of ligaments and injury to the “capsule” of the shoulder. I think it’s a very tricky injury because it is the shoulder, kind of like wrist injuries to a golfer.

All that said, I have no idea if he will play today or exactly how severe this specific injury is. I can’t imagine they would play him if there is any chance that game action would make him worse. You can’t risk a couple of December games for the heart of the season, in my opinion. Go Vols.