Josh Richardson only needed one word to describe the memories of last year’s heartbreaking losses to Texas A&M.
“Swish,” the senior guard said.
With Antwan Space — the forward who nailed buzzer-beating threes to defeat Tennessee in both matchups last year — and the Aggies set to make their return to Knoxville on Saturday, though, Richardson made it clear that he’s ready to prevent Space from downing the Volunteers for a third-straight game.
“He hurt us twice last year,” Richardson said. “If Antwan Space is in the game at the end this year, I’m definitely going to tell whoever is near him not to give him any space.”
But while all the recent memories of the Tennessee-Texas A&M series are of Space, it is junior guard Alex Caruso who propels the Aggies forward.
One of only two players to start every game for Texas A&M, Caruso is averaging 8.9 points, 5.5 assists — which leads the SEC — and 4.4 rebound per game, while shooting .519 from the floor.
“He’s one of those prototypical point guards,” Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall said. “He can dominate or control a game without ever shooting the ball. He’s big for his position and he has great court vision.
“So in our style of play, what we always say is ‘If you cut off the head, the body will die,’ so we really want to make him earn every dribble in the full court in our press and hopefully in the last 6-8 minutes of the game he’s a little tired, but that’s easier said than done because he is a tough, hard-nosed kid.”
Currently sitting in sole possession of second place in the SEC at 4-1, the Vols have been the surprise of the conference after being projected to finish second-to-last at the start of the season.
But Texas A&M has come away with a few surprises of their own lately.
After nearly downing No. 1 Kentucky in double overtime on Jan. 10, the Aggies have rattled off three consecutive victories, including a 67-64 win over the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“They are very talented,” Tyndall said. “They remind a lot of Alabama in the fact that they have big guards with good length and big guys inside who can change and challenge shots around the goal.
“They are 3-2 in the league. They went to LSU and won, they had Kentucky beat and took them to overtime and then Kentucky comes back to beat them. They are a very good team and they certainly at the end of the season could be in the top three or four in our league.”
Tyndall’s optimism for the Texas A&M program, though, shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Back when he began his head-coaching career in 2006 at Morehead State, current Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy also started off his career at Murray State, an Ohio Valley Conference opponent of the Eagles.
Since then, the two have faced off against each other 11 times, with Kennedy holding an 8-3 advantage over Tyndall.
“I hold him in high-esteem,” Tyndall said. “He was a great coach at Murray State. We took over our programs at same time and basically for four or five years there, we alternated winning the league. He’s a great coach, and his teams are always really good defensively.
“I’d like to think that we are pretty cognizant of what he is going to do against our zone, and he’s probably pretty familiar with how we play our zone, so we’ll have a little bit of an advantage each way there.”
Ultimately, though, the matchup inside Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday will be looked at as an opportunity for UT to avenge the heartbreaking events of the past.
But for the Vols, it’s just another opportunity to continue their recent success.
“Those two games that we lost last year were tough,” junior forward Derek Reese said. “That’s still fresh in our minds for the players that were here last year, but really it’s just another game. We’re going to go out there and play the best we can and get the ‘W.'”
Tipoff between the Vols and the Aggies is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST inside and can be seen on FOX Sports Net.
