In a fitting tribute to the retirement of Dale Ellis’ jersey, Antonio Barton nailed five 3-pointers to lead Tennessee (18-11, 9-7 SEC) to a brutal 76-38 beat down of instate rival Vanderbilt (15-13, 7-9 SEC).
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Elllis’ No. 14 jersey was retired prior to the game, and Barton and the Vols put forth an effort worthy of such an occasion. The Memphis transfer and senior point guard, just recently inserted back into the starting lineup, scored a season-high 21 points and added six assists. UTSports says the Vols are now 6-0 on the year when Barton makes three or more 3-pointers. I looked it up; they’re right.
After the game, Head Coach Cuonzo Martin credited a change in Barton’s approach of late to his recent success shooting the ball.
“It’s probably mean about a month now- 10 o’clock every morning, like clock work, he’s (Barton) getting shots in with Coach Webster every day,” Martin said. “At some point, the shots eventually have to fall for you.”
Tennessee stymied the Vanderbilt offense holding the Commodores to 22 percent shooting, and it didn’t allow a single Vandy player to score more than nine points. UTSports also says the 38 points scored by Vanderbilt is the fewest ever by an opponent in Thompson-Boling Arena. Now this stat I took their word for.
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Barton said it was the team’s defense that created the contrast between the results of this game and the last meeting with the Commodores — a four-point loss for the Vols in Nashville.
“Defense,” Barton said. “We took pride in our defense. We helped each other out. We did an awesome job rotating when guys got beat. We just had each other’s back.”
The Vols came out focused, hitting eight of their first 12 shots to jump out to a 22-6 lead. Tennessee outscored Vandy 41-18 (!) in the first half while smothering the Commodores into eight first-half turnovers with hustle and stingy defense.
“That’s something we talk about every day. It’s not just in each particular game,” Martin said, of the defensive performance. “We just talk about having relentless focus and dedication to your craft. When we’re consistent, these are some of the results. Hopefully when shots don’t fall, we can still defend and play hard at this level.”
Jarnell Stokes recorded another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds while adding three assists and three blocks. Partner-in-crime Jeronne Maymon chipped in with six points and collected five offensive boards.
Vols leading scorer Jordan McRae was figuratively quiet scoring just nine points. Armani Moore put together another strong performance leading the attack off the bench for the Vols with eight points on 4-6 shooting. Freshman point guard Darius Thompson added six points while Derek Reese scored five.
The Vols still currently sit squarely on the bubble, though ESPN bracketologist has them as one of the last four teams in to make the NCAA tournament. It’s worth noting that Lunardi also lists Missouri, Tennessee’s final regular season opponent, as one of the first four team out to miss the big dance.
Tennessee travels to Auburn Wednesday to play its last road game of the conference schedule. The Vols handled the Tigers 78-67 in their meeting earlier in the season. The game will tip at 8 p.m.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]