Only three nonconference games remain for No. 1 Tennessee and the Volunteers are preparing nicely for Southeastern Conference play.
After its biggest test of the young season, coach Rick Barnes’ squad will start its second week as the nation’s top-ranked team against visiting Western Carolina on Tuesday night in Knoxville, Tenn.
Tennessee (10-0) turned to Jordan Gainey on Saturday to remain unbeaten against host Illinois.
Gainey inbounded the ball to Igor Milicic Jr. with 5.7 seconds left, took a return pass and went end-to-end before squeezing a layup past Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis for a 66-64 win that pushed the Volunteers to 10-0 for the first time in 25 years.
Tennessee held a 42-37 edge in rebounding over Illinois, which had won the battle on the boards in each of its previous games this season, including a 90-77 victory over then-No. 19 Arkansas on Nov. 28.
After Gainey scored a season-high 23 points, Barnes said the experience of playing on the road in a big-game environment would toughen up his players during a difficult conference schedule.
“It was a high-level game. They’re really good,” said Barnes, whose group gave up the first eight points, started 4-of-25 shooting and battled foul trouble throughout. “To be in December and play a game like that, hoo boy, it’s high-level.
“… They’ve got so many weapons and the way they do things. I’m shocked we were able to get it done with so much foul trouble.”
Illinois fans were lined up around the arena in the afternoon, and a group of fans jeered the Volunteers as they left a local restaurant the previous evening.
Barnes, whose only visit to Champaign was as an Ohio State assistant in the mid-1980s, said his team gained something valuable from the intense environment.
“Toughness,” Barnes said. “It was rabid (in the ’80s). … I think our guys knew that the atmosphere was going to be what we expected it to be. They got a taste of it 24 hours before.”
Sharpshooter Chaz Lanier leads Tennessee with 18.9 points per game, while Milicic (12.3), Gainey (11.6) and Zakai Zeigler (11.5) round out the double-digit scorers.
Western Carolina (3-6) has lost two straight games since beating Bellarmine 86-74 on Dec. 4. The Catamounts dropped contests against South Carolina Upstate and UNC Asheville, the latter by 78-61 on Saturday.
In his first year at Western Carolina, following 11 seasons as head coach at Gardner-Webb, Tim Craft had to assemble a roster right away.
Five seniors graduated from last year’s team, leaving only seven possible returning players. Just four of them decided to stay, and three of them were redshirts. Only Bernard Pelote had game experience.
“We had to recruit nine new players to be on scholarship plus walk-ons,” Craft said last week. “We had 11 to 12 roster spots to fill in March.”
A Savannah, Ga. native, the 6-foot-8 senior Pelote is third in scoring (9.6 points) and leads in rebounding (7.4).
The Catamounts’ top scoring comes from the backcourt, but the production is not excessive.
Junior Ice Emery leads with 12.0 points per game, but the former Merrimack guard has done it on just 35.8 percent shooting. California native Cord Stansberry, who transferred across the country from Pepperdine, chips in 11.2 points and 4.0 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
