If Cuonzo Martin was awaiting a standing ovation in his return to Knoxville, he was kept holding his breath.
Returning to Thompson-Boling Arena as an opposing coach for the first time since his departure following the 2013-14 season, Martin was in for a harsh awakening.
And it had virtually nothing to do with the response he got from the crowd.
Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield each scored 13 points and Jordan Bowden added 12 points and five rebounds as Tennessee completed a regular season sweep of the Tigers, 72-60.
The win marks a program-record 17th straight for the Vols, who stand alone as the conference’s lone remaining undefeated record.
It didn’t come easy, however, and Tennessee has the battle scars to prove it.
“When you play against Missouri, they’re going to battle,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “We knew it would be physical, they do a really good job of walling you off.”
Behind the eight-ball to start, the Vols would find themselves in the midst of a first half grudge match.
With its former coach pacing the opposing sidelines, Tennessee had to rely on its defense to weather an early storm that saw the Tigers shoot 62 percent. The Vols would counter that early onslaught by holding Missouri without a field goal for a nearly seven-minute stretch.
Needless to say, that effort did not go unnoticed.
“Getting stops on defense is big for us when we’re down,” Bowden said. “That’s really what we have to do (in those situations).”
The first half wouldn’t prove to be the only stretch in which Tennessee failed to consistently put the ball in the hoop.
Despite opening the half on a 7-0 run, the Vols once again found themselves in a stretch when nary a point was produced. While a Missouri drought again followed, Tennessee wound up on the downside of the rebounding battle.
It certainly didn’t make the Vols’ coach happy, and Barnes let them know about it.
“Only thing we didn’t do (on that end) is rebound the ball like we should have,” Barnes said. “Defensively, we were on point with what we were trying to do and offensively we weren’t as much.”
One of the slower-paced teams in the SEC, the Tigers have now recorded 60 or less points on seven occasions this season.
They rank 14th in the conference in scoring and don’t fare much better in terms of field goal percentage.
That certainly didn’t stop them from giving Tennessee all it could handle.
“We knew Missouri was going to give us a hard-fought game,” Bowden said. “We’re used to tough games but it’s just about us going about our business and executing.”
Indeed the Vols would execute down the stretch.
Outscoring Missouri by a narrow margin in the second half, Tennessee now finds itself with the best winning percentage in school history through this point in the regular season. They’ve claimed the top spot in the AP Poll for three consecutive weeks and do not appear to be shaken in terms of confidence.
That doesn’t mean all will be smooth-sailing, however, and the Vols are thoroughly aware of that reality.
“We knew it would be physical and we expect that every night to be honest,” Barnes said.
