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Vols look to avoid slippery start in exhibition game Trenton Duffer
Sports Editor
Slippery Rock isn’t your average basketball team. The Lions don’t have a single freshman on the roster, but 10 of their 12 players are playing their first year at the Pennsylvania public, masters-level university. The peculiar lineup stems from Lions’ head coach Kevin Reynolds using players from junior colleges. Five of his players were on the same junior-college team last season at Marshalltown Community College in Iowa. Because of Reynolds’ odd recruiting tactics, Vols’ head coach Rick Barnes believes that the Lions are perfect for his team to face off against in an exhibition game. “We’re playing against a team that we don’t know a lot about, which is sometimes good,” Barnes said on Tuesday, Nov. 1. “If you don’t give (the team) a real thorough scouting report, that means they’re going to be on edge and react to whatever. In some ways, that can be good.” Tennessee is fresh off a private scrimmage against Davidson last Saturday, Oct. 30. Neither media nor fans were allowed to watch the scrimmage, but Barnes saw multiple changes in his team — both good and bad. “When you scrimmage a team that as well-coached and experienced like Davidson, things get exposed in areas you have to get better,” Barnes said. “For our younger guys, it shows how they’ve got to be on edge … You have to stay on edge because if you’re not, someone’s going to cut you up a little bit.” One of those younger guys mentioned is freshman forward Grant Williams. Williams said on Tuesday that it was “great” to play against a different group on Saturday. “Playing against guys you usually don’t see every day and learning how to play against different tempo and different
pact and different ability helped us a ton,” Williams said. “I feel it prepared us. Davidson is a very talented team … Playing against a veteran group like them really helped us both mentally and physically learning the game.” According to Barnes, the Vols saw great play on defense but struggled in the post. The struggles down low could be pointed to the size, or lack thereof, of the Vols’ big men. Kyle Alexander is Tennessee’s tallest player at 6-foot-10. John Fulkerson and Lew Evans are both 6-foot-7, but there’s no one else on the team that is taller than 6-foot-5. But the most obvious difference that Barnes says he saw on Saturday was the team’s play deep in the shot clock. Barnes said that at regular practices, the team usually plays with an 18 to 24-second shot clock. But against Davidson, the Vols kept the possession deeper into the clock, resulting in a few errors from the younger players. “In high school, they don’t have a clock, so some of these guys weren’t aware of it like they needed to be, so that was a learning experience for them,” Barnes said. “They’ve never had to know the shot clock situation, so that was good. “Each guy had some pretty good moments.” However, Barnes did say that his players told coaches after the scrimmage that the pace at which the teams played at was slower because of the “high pace we (the Vols) run in practice.” With a scrimmage in their pocket and Thursday being the first taste of basketball action for Vol fans this season, freshman point guard Jordan Bone says that he’s living the dream. “It makes it really exciting,” Bone said. “It’s very humbling to actually make that dream come true. It’s our first game, so we have to show people what we’re made of … We have to come ready to play.” Tennessee faces Slippery Rock in an exhibition match this Thursday night, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. in Thompson-Boling Arena.
Kyle Alexander, #11, attempts to score against Arkansas on Jan. 13, 2015. • File Photo
Volume 132 Issue 51
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Thursday, November 3, 2016