The No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers got back to their winning ways Saturday night with a 72-50 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores in front of 18,184 fans at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Sophomore guard Terrence Woods came off the bench to lead all scorers with 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting. Vincent Yarbrough followed with 13 points and seven boards in 37 minutes.
Jon Higgins followed up with 10 points and a career-high seven assists after starting guard Tony Harris went down with a wrist injury.
I could score but I might force a shot and I don’t think that would be the best for the team, Higgins said. My job is to get everybody set to play and I feel I did that tonight.
The Vols (18-4, 5-3 SEC) placed five players in double figures partly due to a steamy 51.1 percent shooting from the floor.
I’m not so sure we were as good as we played, Vol head coach Jerry Green said, and Vandy wasn’t as bad as they played either.
Vandy’s leading scorers were Anthony Williams and Matt Freije, both with seven points, as the Commodores shot only 32.8 percent from the floor.
Vandy’s poor shooting may have been the product of center Greg LaPointe’s absence.
LaPointe picked up his third foul with 10:11 remaining in the first half, forcing him to ride the pine. His fourth foul was called with 13:20 left to play, making him a non-factor for much of the game.
Greg is an excellent player, Green said. They’re just not as good without him.
Tennessee jumped on the Commodores early by racing out to a 15-0 lead.
Our last couple of games, we haven’t played well out of the gates so we wanted to do well, Higgins said of the quick lead.
Yarbrough nailed a jumper in the lane for the 2-0 lead followed by two Charles Hathaway free throws.
Harris then nailed a free throw and a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 8-0.
Harris wasn’t finished, though, as he led a fast break into the lane only to dish a no-look pass to Isiah Victor for the jam and a 10-0 lead.
Hathaway then converted on a 3-point play followed by a Victor hook shot for the 15-point lead.
It was very important for us to jump out with the 15-0 run, Woods said. It helped to motivate us and help us play better.
Vandy finally got into the scoring column 6:31 into the contest when Sam Howard hit a 3 from the left wing. The basket spurred a 9-0 run by the Commodores to trim the UT lead to 15-9.
Jon Higgins made a layup for the Vols but was countered by back-to-back Vandy layups to make it 17-13.
However, that was as close as the Dores would come as UT went on a 12-0 run to extend the lead to 29-13 and took a 39-22 lead into halftime.
After the break, UT continued to dominate.
Woods and Yarbrough nailed consecutive 3s. Yarbrough then intercepted a pass for an easy jam and a 47-25 lead.
Hathaway converted in the paint and Victor followed with a jam under the goal for a 51-27 lead.
The rest was history as Vandy’s desperation 3-pointers were matched by Tennessee’s offensive consistency and defensive stands.
I thought our defense was as good as it has been all season, Green said. Our offense had some flurries but, overall, it was a good effort.
The Vols travel to Arkansas on Wednesday for an 8 p.m. matchup.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Green was called for a technical foul with 11:09 to play in the first half and showed his displeasure by following referee Larry Rose onto the court. Green had to be restrained by his assistants.
All of a sudden, he said something that I don’t necessarily agree with and he gives a T,’ Green said. I’m over in my domain over there and all of a sudden we get into a philosophical conversation and apparently he didn’t like my part of the philosophy.
According to Green, Rose came over to him and initiated the conflict.
It’s unusual for one of those guys to initiate something and kind of put salt in the wound and I’m being punished because he came over there. I guess it’s fair in America, it’s fair in Russia and a few other places.
