Tennessee Basketball remains #1 after their tough win at Illinois

Tennessee basketball played easily their worst game of the year on Saturday night. However, they still left Champaign, Illinois with a victory. The Vols overcame horrid shooting, foul trouble, and lapses in discipline to even be in the game down the stretch, and then Jordan Gainey went coast to coast in 5 seconds to score the game-winning basket at the buzzer. The win puts Tennessee’s record at 10-0 which marks the best start to a season for the Vols in 25 years.

After Zakai Zeigler picked up his fourth foul early in the 2nd half the outlook for the rest of the game was looking bleak for Tennessee. Luckily, Jordan Gainey stepped up and scored 18 points in the 2nd half including the aforementioned game-winner. Igor Milicic also never quit even in the face of a 2-13 shooting performance as he pulled down 14 rebounds and had a huge fastbreak dunk late after stealing an inbound pass. Even Darlinstone Dubar contributed fresh off a concussion with 2 huge buckets when the game was in danger of slipping away from the Vols. However, the most unsung hero of the game for Tennessee was Jahmai Mashack who had 4 steals and was the driving force of a defensive performance that held the Illini to 29% shooting.

The best teams find a way to win when the odds are stacked against them. I think there is plenty to work on coming out of this one for Tennessee, but the fact they were able to come out on top with their undisputed leader Zakai Zeigler on the bench for most of the 2nd half is a very good sign. The Vols will be back in action on Tuesday night against Western Carolina and barring a complete disaster in one of the next 3 games will be sporting an unblemished record heading into conference play.