Vols in a dogfight against South Carolina
March 14, 2008
The more I see them, the more Tennessee reminds me of a car with all the bells and whistles.
They are sleek, smooth, powerful and seductive. But will they break down on the side of the road?
While Alabama rested before Friday night’s contest with Mississippi State, I took advantage of the opportunity to see the SEC champion Vols play South Carolina. This game hasn’t provided many answers to that question.
Carolina outfought LSU Thursday, and Tennessee pressed and pushed the pace early trying to take advantage of that extra day of rest.
It didn’t make a difference in the first half, but with 10 minutes to go, the Gamecocks look a little leg weary. Still, they are in the game despite clearly outmanned physically.
It’s funny that the longer this stays a game, the louder the crowd gets for Carolina. It’s obvious most fans here are wearing orange. But the Gamecocks are picking up fans of the other teams—especially the thousands in the blue shirts—as the game rolls on and remains close.
Saw a couple of weird plays in this one. Tennessee’s mammoth 6-10, 267-pound freshman Brian Williams was called for offensive goaltending. Williams went up through the basket to help tip-in a shot that may have fallen anyway. Williams motioned to the refs that the basket should count, but they correctly waved it off. Nice try, though.
At the end of the half, with 1.4 seconds left, he Vols inbounded and fired up a halfcourt shot. The ball rebounded off the back iron, went up and bounced between the shot clock support and the top of the backboard. The ball rattled there a moment, then fell into the basket. Again, the basket was correctly disallowed.
UT should wear down Carolina in the closing minutes, but it will take a better opponent to determine if the Vols are a Ferrari or a Fiero.
Game 2 Friday will match Arkansas and Vanderbilt in what may be the most entertaining game of the tournament so far.
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