Robert Hubbs III, #3, dribbles the ball down the court away from a Missouri defender at Thompson-Boling Arena on Feb. 18, 2017. Madison Nickell • The Daily Beacon
Hubbs preparing for Thompson-Boling curtain call Trenton Duffer Sports Editor Robert Hubbs III is a one-of-a-kind player in more ways than one. Although he’s a prolific scorer that has proven himself as a leader, Hubbs is all by himself in one category: He’s the only player in the NCAA that went through three coaches in his first three years of college. Hubbs caught the final year of Cuonzo Martin his freshman year despite having a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the season in January 2014. Hubbs was a sophomore when Donnie Tyndall had his one-and-done stint at UT. Last season, Hubbs adjusted to the new coaching style of current head coach Rick Barnes. With Barnes only starting Hubbs in 16
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of the Vols 30 games last year, there was a bit of a wedge in this player-coach relationship. But no longer. “We’re both in the right lane now,” Hubbs said in a July interview. “It feels good. He knows what I’m good at. I know what I’m good at. We’re just going to get this thing rolling this year … This is my last go-around. I’ll probably never have this opportunity again. I’m going out doing what I have to do, getting these young guys better, being serious each and every day. “I’m just trying to do things right.” Hubbs has done a lot of things right this year. With 14.4 points per game, the senior guard leads Tennessee in scoring and has the secondhighest shooting percentage (48.6 percent) of players that have played in at least 25 games. Hubbs has taken 94 more shots and made 39 more shots than anyone on the team while play-
ing 922 total minutes and being the only Vol to start every game. Simply said, the Newbern, Tennessee, native is a leader among his teammates and a straight shooter. He even changed his haircut from the short, bouncy afro to cornrows straight out of the Allen Iverson days – much to the avail of Barnes. “Boy, that was awful, wasn’t it?” Barnes, after the Vols 90-70 win over Missouri, jokingly said. “He actually said to me that it felt really good. So I said, ‘Why don’t you just cut it off?’ He said something about his face.” But it hasn’t been all jokes for Hubbs this year. Despite bouncing back from the aforementioned shoulder surgery, it hasn’t been a completely injury-free senior campaign for Hubbs. In December of the 2015-16 season, Hubbs had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Knee
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troubles this season haven’t sidelined him yet, but, according to Barnes, Hubbs has had his knee drained twice in the past three weeks. “He’s been really brave,” Barnes said. “He’s a guy that we leave it up to him. He just wants to do whatever he has to do to help his team win.” Barnes added that this wouldn’t affect whether or not Hubbs will play this Wednesday night against LSU (TV: SEC Network Alternate, 7 p.m.). Although he has posted team-bests in scoring and minutes played, there have been constant ups-and-downs for the senior. Some of Hubbs’ top performances of the year came against Chaminade and then-No. 4 Kentucky. Against the Silverswords, Hubbs dropped a career-high 28 points and had a career-high four steals. See HUBBS on Page 6
Thursday, March 2, 2017