Vols basketball dispatches Florida, wins 20th game

Rick Barnes stressed needing his key players to play like stars in a crucial time of year for Tennessee basketball after its loss to Georgia on Saturday.

Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams responded accordingly with big performances Wednesday night in a tightly contested battle with Florida.

The duo combined for 39 points and 14 rebounds, leading Tennessee to a 62-57 win against the Gators to reach the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

“You will think I’m nuts when I tell you this: I didn’t realize tonight was our 20th win until the (assistant) coaches told me,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said.

Williams had a game-high 23 points and six rebounds, bouncing back from a five-point, four-rebound outing in the loss at Georgia. Schofield had 16 points and eight rebounds for No. 19 Tennessee (20-7, 10-5 SEC), which holds second-place in the SEC by two games over six teams tied for third.

“This game we just had to get an inside presence,” Williams said. “Recently, we’ve been playing kind of outside-in and we haven’t been establishing that force on the inside. Especially last game, I think we took a lot of threes — 25 threes or something like that.

“It was just establishing that force and letting our guards do what they do and shoot the ball really well and just let me and Admiral be physical and attack the rebounds.”

Schofield and Williams combined for 23 second-half points on 9-for-15 shooting, lifting the Vols at key points. Schofield dunked after Florida cut the lead to one early in the second half, then scored five straight after the Gators again were threatening.

Williams sat for nine minutes early in the second half after picking up his third foul less than a minute after halftime. Then Williams got rolling, backing down for an easy layup on his first possession after checking in midway through the second half and Tennessee leading by three.

He grabbed two straight defensive rebounds, then scored on back-to-back possessions as he scored 13 points in the final 11:36.

“Fact is, if we were better offensively when Grant wasn’t in there then we would have been able to stretch it maybe a little bit,” Barnes said. “When he came back, I thought our halfcourt execution was pretty good for the most part.”

The teams traded runs throughout the second half. Florida (17-11, 8-7) landed the first with a 5-0 run before Tennessee hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Then the Gators went on a 9-0 run to cut Tennessee’s lead to one, 33-32.  

The Vols appeared primed to run away with the game starting with a large one-handed Jordan Bowden dunk in transition. Schofield followed with a quick hook, then a baseline drive and floater plus a foul for a three-point play to push Tennessee ahead 44-36.

Florida made another mini-run to trim the lead to three, but the Vols opened a 10-point lead soon after. The Gators cut the lead to three again in the final minute after back-to-back Chris Chiozza layups, but the Vols held on and moved closer to a double-bye in the SEC Tournament.

Tennessee limited Florida to 35.0 percent shooting and 25.0 percent shooting from 3-point range for a defensive showing Barnes said was good overall.

“We knew they make nine threes per game and knew they lived from the 3-point line and they’re a really talented shooting team,” Williams said. “So, we knew if we controlled the three-point line and rebounded the ball we’d be fine.”

Tennessee avoided its first two-game losing streak since the first week of SEC play once again, successfully responding to a loss at Georgia with a gritty showing against Florida a week after bouncing back from a loss at Alabama similarly against South Carolina.

“After those games, we realized they just out-toughed us and if that’s supposed to be our identity, we can’t let that happen,” Williams said. “We’ve responded. The thing is we have to keep going. We can’t let another game slip by where we’re just like, ‘Oh, they did it again.’

“We have to establish our mark day-in and day-out.”

No Walker

Freshman forward Derrick Walker did not play against Florida after turning an ankle in practice Tuesday.

Barnes said he does not know a timetable for Walker’s return and added Walker had a tough time moving around during shootaround.

The 6-foot-8 Walker is averaging 1.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game.

Up next

Tennessee travels to Ole Miss for a 1 p.m. ET Saturday tipoff (SEC Network).