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Wednesday, January 10, 2001
Perfect Tenn.? Not exactly, but Vols are getting there
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- We begin a 24-hour period with Tennessee by being two
hours late for an interview with Tony Harris and Ron Slay because of flight
and weather problems.
But do the players bolt on a request or waste the free time? Hardly. They
pass the period by taking extra shots, hanging out in the locker room and
continuing a bond that seems unbreakable between two players, two years
apart, at two different positions from two distinctive parts of the state.
During the course of an interview and a game of horse, the younger
but bigger Slay's Nashville comedy routine compliments Harris' competitive
spirit that leads to a two-point victory for the Memphis point guard.
|  | | Tony Harris said the Vols put together their best effort Tuesday in beating the Tide. |
"We're having lots of fun this year," Slay said.
Call this Exhibit A in the case for believing in Tennessee.
Skip ahead to halftime Tuesday night with Tennessee holding a slim
38-35 lead over Alabama in the Vols' first home game since Dec. 7.
"That's when we challenged our post guys to go stronger, challenged
them to rebound the basketball and challenged them to spend more energy on
the defensive end," Tennessee assistant Byron Samuels said.
That's when Tennessee turned it on.
The Volunteers simply ran away from the Tide, going on a 32-11 run
in 13 minutes, including a 13-0 run, and sprinkled in a zone to shut down
the Tide shooters. Tennessee made this one a laugher, literally from the
physical comedian Slay. Harris got them running, feeding Vincent Yarbrough
for a jam, Jon Higgins for a jumper, Isiah Victor, Charles Hathaway and
eventually Slay, for some junk underneath.
The 20-plus lead got lost in some offensive carelessness and
defensive lapses when the starters left, but coach Jerry Green put
them back in for the final few minutes to put away the Tide 86-69.
File this statement away for the rest of the SEC and national
non-believers in Tennessee.
"This is the best we've played as a team," Harris said. "We really
looked like our old selves tonight. We had them frustrated. We had them
beaten. We need to keep beating up on a team and not letting up."
It wasn't perfect. Slay pouted a bit near the end of the game because he
only got his usual 20 minutes. But he did his part by scoring 14 (his
average is 13.2) and grabbing eight boards. He was also the postgame choice
for the ESPN on-air interview and did some radio for a spell.
"I want to be out there," Slay said with a smile. "I love to
celebrate at the end of the game."
As soon as the game ended he did. He was the life of the locker
room. Hurling bars of soap from the shower, yapping at the SportsCenter
highlights, nearly making Yarbrough choke on some chicken nuggets.
"He's crazy," Yarbrough said.
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“ |
We
let down in that Virginia game and did what we
would have last year. We've now got to go out and show people we're a legit top-five
team, play hard and smart every night. ” |
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— Isiah Victor |
"But he always loosens us up and gives us the spark," Victor said.
Tennessee lacked similar fire at the beginning of the season. The
Vols still had some lethargy left in them from their Sweet 16 flameout to
North Carolina. They played a complete game against Wisconsin, but then went
on the road and nearly handed a game to West Virginia. Memphis and SMU hung
around too long and by the time the Vols' got to New Jersey for the Jimmy V
Classic against Virginia, they were a vulnerable fourth-ranked team.
"That's when we were totally embarrassed on national TV," Victor
said of Tennessee's 18-point loss to the Cavaliers.
They were easy fodder for ridicule on the court in the 107-89 defeat,
on the bench with Harris and Yarbrough snapping at each other over Samuels
and in the locker room for an impromptu players-only meeting after the game.
"We needed that meeting, even that early in the season to get some
things ironed out," Slay said. "But I'm telling you that kind of loss won't
happen again."
Tennessee hasn't lost since, winning at Syracuse, beating George
Washington, Iowa and Hawaii in Honolulu and a double-overtime win at Auburn.
Virginia got wasted at Wake Forest and lost at home to Georgia Tech in the
interim.
"We let down in that Virginia game and did what we would have last
year," Victor said. "We've now got to go out and show people we're a legit
top-five team, play hard and smart every night."
But more than that they have to continue to have moments of
patience, maturity and unselfishness.
During the Syracuse win, Yarbrough struggled and in 17 minutes, made
one field goal. He told Green not to put him in while the team was on a hot
streak.
"A lot of people see me as one of the better players on the team and
if I'm not playing well then sit me down," Yarbrough said. "If everyone
takes that attitude then we'll be fine."
Walker did during the Auburn victory. Harris said
Walker's move not to be angry when his turn in the rotation was skipped
showed how much this team has matured.
"We didn't have guys do stuff like that two or three years ago,"
Harris said. "Now the new guys here are making sacrifices for each other."
Even the now-infamous pizza fight with GW in the hospitality room
at the Rainbow Classic is leaving a lasting impression. A scuffle with the
Colonials over cheese pizza got this group even tighter.
"This team is getting closer and closer every day," Yarbrough said. "We're
doing things together where before two or three people would go this way and
do that. Everybody is sharing the ball and pulling for each other and look
around the country, the better teams like Duke and Stanford have their bench
into it. They're jumping up and down. We're doing that now, too."
Tennessee might not be in an elite group with Stanford, Michigan State,
Duke, Illinois, and possibly Arizona if the Wildcats ever got their talent
to mesh. But the Volunteers are right with Wake Forest and Kansas atop a
second tier. That puts them as the team to beat in the SEC, especially with
Florida ailing (Teddy Dupay and Brent Wright are out for almost four weeks)
and Kentucky still a mystery.
"We've tied for the SEC East two years in a row now and we want to win this
thing and be a No. 1 seed (in the NCAA Tournament)," Harris said. "When we
got out to that 20-something lead (on Alabama), that's the way I want us to
play from the start. We've got to match that intensity here, Gainesville
and in Lexington."
The Vols are loose because it fits their personality as well as Green's. And
when they win as convincingly as they did Tuesday, it's hard to believe they
would fold without a fight in March.
Or at least without having a good time.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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