Tennessee is in all likelihood the best sub .500 team in the nation and most certainly a sub .500 team no one wants to face. A team that beat #17 Florida by 11 a week and a half ago, followed by a four point loss to #18 Mississippi State, and gave #2 Kentucky all it could handle last Saturday en route to a three point loss. Unfortunately for UConn (14-5), the Volunteers (9-10) put it together a strong surge in the second half building a 10 point lead with just over three to play and withstood a furious Huskies charge in the closing seconds before walking away with an hard fought 60-57 victory Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.
The first half saw a see-saw affair that featured six lead changes and five ties. The biggest lead of the half was an early 13-8 Volunteers lead with just over eleven minutes to go in the first. Jeremy Lamb (23 pts) paced the Huskies with nine with the Vols Cameron Tatum (15 pts) scoring eight going into the break.
Tennessee, trailing by two after the first twenty 27-25, opened the second with a 9-0 run and took a 34-27 lead with 16:25 to play. UConn scored the next six straight capped by a patented Jeremy Lamb floater that cut the lead to one 34-33 at the 12:12 mark. That would be as close as the Huskies would get for the rest of the afternoon. The Vols answered with a 13-7 run for a 47-40 lead with 5:51 to play. The last hoop of the run came via a strong drive from the foul line by Jeronne Maymon (8 pts, 7 rbs) that resulted in an and one, but more significantly sent Alex Oriakhi (5 pts, 7 rbs) to the bench with his fifth foul.
After Tennessee pushed the lead to 10 UConn began chipping away. Seven points apiece from Lamb and Shabazz Napier (18 pts) over the final three minutes gave the Huskies a glimmer of hope coming down the stretch. Napier hit a three with 3.8 to go cutting the lead to 59-57 followed by an UConn foul putting Cameron Tatum at the line with 2.7 to play. Cameron (15 pts) hit the back end of the two shot foul giving the Vols the three point lead. Following a Tennessee timeout, Napier took the inbounds pass but his half court heave was off the mark and UConn dropped their second consecutive game after a big road win at Notre Dame last Saturday.
The Huskies played their third straight game without Ryan Boatright as the NCAA and the University sort through the latest eligibility controversy stemming from his AAU playing days. As the most recent suspension drags on Coach Jim Calhoun and his staff are again left trying to find productive combinations on the floor while trying to find some backcourt help for Napier. Fortunately UConn has some time to regroup and maybe get some closure on the latest Boatright situation as they don’t play again until the 29th when Notre Dame comes to Hartford for a Sunday afternoon rematch.
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