The Tennessee Volunteers held onto the #1 ranking for just over a day before having to play archrival Vanderbilt on Tuesday. They lost, 72-69.
Memorial Gym has a reputation for being a very tough place to play. The court has tons of room on the sidelines (leading up to the stands) and the benches are placed on opposite baselines. It’s an odd setup and that can throw off the visiting team. Vandy is tough to beat there, no matter the opponent.
Tennessee likes to create chaos, but the problem with that is in a tight game, they have trouble running enough offense to get a good shot. That was the case down the stretch on Tuesday, and it makes me wonder if they can execute against the best teams in the country next month.
Shan Foster led all scorers with 32 points, while Chris Lofton led the Vols with 25. Both players are seniors. Foster is projected to be a second round pick in this summer’s draft while Lofton may not be drafted at all. I think Foster is the better prospect; he reminds me a little of Rashad McCants. Lofton has great range and is a good scorer, but he seems slow for a 6’2″ player and doesn’t have natural point guard skills. (He’s averaging a career-high 2.0 assists per game this season.)
