Tennessee, which boasts the No. 1-ranked defense in the Southeastern Conference, will try to slow down the league’s top offensive team when it visits Georgia on Wednesday in Athens, Ga.
The game originally was scheduled for Tuesday before being moved back one day because of icy conditions from a winter storm that paralyzed the Southeast.
Tennessee (13-6, 3-3 SEC), which allows only 69.0 points per game, is coming off an impressive 79-73 road victory over then-No. 17 Alabama. It was the program’s 29th win over a top-25 opponent over the last five seasons, more than any other team in the country.
Georgia (16-4, 4-3) was throttled 81-67 by Texas on the road Saturday. The Bulldogs, who average 93.5 points, were limited to their lowest output of the season.
“I just thought we got emotional because of the lack of stops,” Georgia coach Mike White said. “All of a sudden you’re down 8-10, it gets loud in the arena, and we just got out of character with executing our system and with shot selection. We took a few hero shots and you can’t win on the road in the SEC doing that. We’ve been way more connected. Very disappointed.”
Georgia’s defense especially was suspect in the second half when it allowed the Longhorns to score 57 points.
“It came a little disconnected defensively and we struggled to defensive rebound the entire second half,” White said. “We did force some tough 2s, but they just made them. We’ve got to address the defensive issues, the lack of presence in the paint to finish stops with defensive rebounds in the second half.”
Georgia’s top scorers are Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.7 points), Blue Cain (13.6 points) and Marcus “Smurf” Millender (11.7), who scored his 1,000th career point against Texas.
Tennessee did not have a midweek game and spent the time recovering from its loss to Kentucky on Jan. 17. The preparation paid off.
“They understood we had to get some things right,” Volunteers coach Rick Barnes said. “They approached this past week with a great mindset and were able to carry over a lot of what we talked about. We knew we were playing one of the best offensive teams in the country and we wanted to be on edge the entire time.”
Tennessee’s Nate Avent scored a career-high 29 points against Alabama. He was 10-for-20 from the field and became the first freshman to score 29 points for the Vols since Feb. 10, 2021, and the first to make double-digit field goals since Dec. 4, 2021.
“Nate’s been good all year,” Barnes said. “He’s starting to understand how to attack space and not to get himself in trouble by going too deep, but he was terrific.”
Avent is No. 2 on the team at 16.2 points per game, trailing only Ja’kobi Gillespie (18.8), who ranks No. 5 in the SEC.
Tennessee was without freshman point guard Troy Henderson (left shoulder), but he could return against Georgia.
The Volunteers are unranked for the second straight week following a run of 90 consecutive weeks in the Top 25.
–Field Level Media
