Jordan Bone scored 19 points to help spark a hot-shooting first half for No. 13 Tennessee in an 84-66 win over Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday.
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“How does that strike you?” the reporter asked. Just like any tournament, any team can make a run as deep as they want.
Tennessee would go on to win the game in a 62-59 thriller, but the rest of the tournament will likely be marred by Weatherspoon’s injury and questions about how it could have been handled better, if not prevented altogether. “We were playing against a good defensive team, but we were getting to our spots and making shots”.
In all, Bone hit his first seven shots – he didn’t miss an attempt in the first half – as he tied Arkansas’ Daryl Macon with a game-high 19 points. Kyle Alexander, Grant Williams and James Daniel III each had 12 points. Freshman guard Darious Hall also added 11 points to go along with seven rebounds. Daniel and Schofield both chipped in 11 points in the half as well. Bone aided in holding the Razorbacks to 40.8 percent as Tennessee scored 14 points off 10 turnovers. Lamonte Turner added nine points. Kentucky (23-10) defeated Alabama 86-63 in the first semifinal contest.
Prior to Saturday, Gabriel had hit only 30 triples all season, shooting them at a.345 clip.
John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats hit their dry spell during a four game losing streak in January. Especially from behind the 3-point line. The Volunteers have won six straight games, including conference tournament wins over Mississippi State and Arkansas. It was the second time the Volunteers had played the Bulldogs in the last two weeks, although this game was much different from the first game. They’ve outrebounded their opponents by 10 or more boards four times over those 13 games, of which 11 were victories.
Former Arkansas starting forward Dustin Thomas, a senior who was dismissed from the team Monday by Coach Mike Anderson for an undisclosed violation of team rules, sat behind the Razorbacks’ bench during Saturday’s game. It’s the first time the Vols had swept the regular season series from Kentucky since 1999.
We will update with trends once they’ve been released. “And we’ve got depth”. “We were more aggressive because he has incredible speed and getting what we call the crack down the lane”. That’s probably the mindset they have. But this team still has a chance to defeat more history in the NCAA Tournament.
“We were being a lot more aggressive and it started with Jordan Bone”, said Schofield. “We’ve just got to worry about our jobs and doing our jobs consistently”. “The biggest thing is we try to go out to every game with that mindset, like we’re trying to ideal our standard”. Just like they should do again this afternoon.
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The folks of Big Blue Nation have been strong in St. Louis for the Kentucky Wildcats.
