The roller coaster may continue for Tennessee men’s basketball coach Buzz Peterson this weekend.
The third-year coach got the emotional rebound he wanted for his team against Vanderbilt Wednesday night, after a demoralizing loss to No. 15 Florida last Saturday.
But now Tennessee must head back on the road against South Carolina. The Volunteers are 1-2 this season away from home, losing by an average of 26.5 points in those losses.
And with fifth-ranked Kentucky and No. 8 Louisville visiting Knoxville over the next 10 days, Peterson said he knows now isn’t the best time for the Vols to lose another road game.
We knew this was a tough stretch, he said. We’ve just got to take it one game at a time. … Right now we have to focus on traveling to South Carolina.
Compared to Tennessee’s next two opponents, the match-up Saturday against the Gamecocks would seem easy, but not so according to Peterson.
They do a terrific job there, Peterson said. They’re still leading the nation in field goal percentage defense.
Not a statistic favorable to UT’s chances of winning.
Poor shooting has been the major problem for the Vols away from Thompson-Boling Arena this season. Tennessee is only averaging 34.1 percent from the field in road games.
We know that’s an issue, but it just comes down to us making better decisions, Vol point guard C.J. Watson said. We’ve gotten more confident as the season has gone on.
Peterson said his coaching, not just confidence, were part of the Vols’ problems on the road. In the 95-57 loss to the Gators, Peterson blamed himself for poor coaching decisions.
He said he won’t make the same mistake against the Gamecocks.
What we have to do on the road is adjust to how we need to play, Peterson said. Can we go in there and run our transition game, do we need a zone (or) a better half-court game?
We’ve got to get a better performance than we’ve gotten our last three road games. South Carolina is a very good ball club.
The two teams split the series last year, with Tennessee winning 60-56 in Knoxville and South Carolina taking the game in Columbia, 77-63.
Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
