Prior to Friday’s matchup with Louisiana, the Tennessee men’s basketball team had played an exhibition game against Tusculum and a quasi-exhibition game against Lenoir-Rhyne.
Both of those contests resulted in blowout wins for the Vols. Friday’s game at Thompson-Boling Arena was expected to be more competitive, as Tennessee (2-0) faced a Louisiana (1-1) team that won 27 games last season.
However, for the majority of the game, the Rajin’ Cajuns provided little resistance for the No. 6 Vols, who ran away with the second regular season game of the season en route to an 87-65 victory.
“We won a game tonight against a really well-coached team and a team that can really score the ball,” Barnes said. “We knew at the start of the game that they were going to hit us with some things.”
Junior forward Grant Williams, who is the reigning SEC Player of the Year, led the Tennessee charge throughout the game.
Powered by poster dunks, a three-point shooting barrage and a consistent presence in the paint all game, Williams poured in 31 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
“He (Barnes) really got into me yesterday,” Williams said. “It really affected me tonight. It’s something I thought about probably the entire night last night.”
He was 3-for-4 from the three-point line. Last season, Williams was 3-for-25 from beyond the arc.
“Grant does work at it,” Barnes said. “When their feet are set, we have to be able to make stationary jump shots. We like to think every guy on our team can do that…we just want them stationary.”
Williams hit the floor hard in the first half after he was bumped by a Louisiana player on an attempted dunk. He made his way off the court under his own power and returned to the game moments later.
After a fast-paced 13-13 start to the game, Tennessee held Louisiana to just one successful field goal over the next five-plus minutes of game time. At the 8:48 mark in the first half, the Vols held a 28-15 lead.
That lead would rarely slip below 15 points for the remainder of the game. The Vols shot 54 percent from the field, while holding Louisiana to 40 percent shooting.
Senior forward Admiral Schofield scored 15 points on 7-of-16 scoring and added seven rebounds. Point guard Jordan Bone had 10 points and eight assists.
“I am really just working on playing off of Grant (Williams),” Schofield said. “When I get to the NBA or play professionally, I am probably going to be playing off of someone else.”
In Tuesday’s win against Lenoir-Rhyne, the Vols allowed seven three pointers in the first half. During Friday’s game, Tennessee gave up just eight threes in the entirety of the contest.
“We had to clean up how we closed out,” Schofield said. “We close out a certain way, and we weren’t doing that against Lenoir-Rhyne. We had to really correct that tonight. They hit some tough ones, but that’s basketball.”
Tennessee hosts Georgia Tech on Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. ET at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols defeated the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta last season.
