University of Tennessee Athletics
The @Vol_Hoops Report: Jan. 15
January 15, 2015 | Men's Basketball
The Tennessee basketball team travels to Columbia, Mo., for an SEC road test at Missouri Saturday (6 p.m. ET, SEC Network). The Volunteers (10-5, 2-1 SEC) have already managed one conference road win, which they notched in their league opener earlier last week at Mississippi State.
A victory Saturday vs. the Tigers (7-9, 1-2 SEC) would mark the first time since 2009 that Tennessee won its first two SEC road games.
"I think anytime you get a chance to go to places like North Carolina State and Mississippi State and go through the process with such a young and inexperienced team, all those experiences help. They just do," Vols head coach Donnie Tyndall said. "That doesn't necessarily make it any easier, because life on the road in college basketball is extremely difficult.
"But I think our team is growing. We're getting better. Our chemistry is really good. Hopefully (Mizzou Arena) won't be too much of an intimidating environment where we're overwhelmed."
The fact that the Vols have already escaped an opposing SEC gym with a victory gives Tennessee's players a reason to approach Saturday's battle with heightened optimism.
"That gives us a lot of confidence," junior forward Derek Reese said. "It helped us because we're a young team--one of the least experienced in the SEC--so playing on the road and getting that win gives us a lot confidence when we're not playing on our home court. We need to be prepared to win on the road, because that's how you make it to the NCAA Tournament, by getting wins on the road."
Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, CBS college basketball analyst Jerry Palm on Thursday released a projected March bracket that listed Tennessee as a No. 9 seed.
The Vols' roster features only four scholarship returners, and UT was the media's preseason pick to finish 13th in the 14-team SEC.
So although Tyndall has praised his young squad's coachability and also has stated that his team is performing "ahead of schedule" to this point in the season, he told reporters Thursday that any NCAA Tournament talk for the Big Orange is very premature.
"Those prognostications and opinions don't mean anything right now," Tyndall said. "We've got a lot of basketball to be played, and we're worried about Mizzou.
RICHARDSON CLOSING IN ON 1,000 POINTS
Tennessee senior Josh Richardson enters the Missouri game with 985 career points under his belt. He averages 16.4 points per game, placing him on track to potentially become the 47th all-time member of Tennessee's 1,000-Point Club Saturday.
The Edmond, Okla., native has scored more than 25 percent of UT's total points this season. He has failed to score in double figures just once this year, and he has dropped 15 or more points in 12 of Tennessee's 15 games thus far.
While Richardson has proven to be one of the most prolific scorers in the SEC this season, his impact on the box score reaches much further than just the points column.
He ranks second in the SEC in steals with 2.3 per game. He leads the conference in minutes played, averaging 34.9 per contest.
He also leads the Vols in assists from his newly assumed point guard position, dishing out 3.2 per game. And his 4.2 rebounds per game rank second on the squad.
In Tennessee's two games vs. Missouri last season, Richardson averaged 12.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists. That included a 16-point effort at Mizzou Arena Feb. 15, 2014.
ABOUT MISSOURI
The Tigers are 7-9 (1-2 SEC) in their first season under head coach Kim Anderson.
Anderson played collegiately at Missouri from 1973-77 and was the head coach at Division II Central Missouri from 2002-14. He led the Mules to three national semifinal appearances and the DII national title in 2014.
"His team is playing extremely hard," Tyndall said of Anderson. "I think he's doing a great job coaching those guys. And they've made progress. They've gotten better week-to-week and that shows a team that's well coached and whose players are developing and growing."
Missouri opened SEC play with an overtime win against LSU before suffering losses at Auburn and at Kentucky.
"They've been really good on their home floor," Tyndall said. "So I think they'll bounce back and we'll get their best shot, that's for sure."
Missouri sophomore forward Johnathan Williams III--a native of Memphis, Tenn.--leads the Tigers in both scoring (13.7 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg).
Tigers senior Keith Shamburger scored a season-best 21 points in their loss at Auburn, hitting five 3-pointers.
"(Missouri is) very similar to us," Tyndall said. "They don't have a big, physical frontline--although they do have one junior college guy who would fit that mold--but they have long, rangy, athletic frontline guys in the mold of Willie (Carmichael III) and Tariq (Owens). And their guards are playing well and with a lot of confidence."
Missouri is one of only three SEC programs that has a winning record against Tennessee (Alabama and Kentucky are the others). A win by the Vols Saturday in Columbia would even the all-time series at 5-5.
ANDERSON FACED VOLS IN 1974
Mizzou head coach Kim Anderson faced Hall of Famer Bernard King and the Volunteers in the 1974 Big Sun Invitational in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Powered by King's 32 points and 18 rebounds--as well as 24 points from the versatile Mike Jackson--Tennessee easily defeated the Tigers 99-77.
Anderson played 18 minutes in that contest and finished with five points on 2-of-5 shooting to go with seven rebounds and five turnovers.
Missouri's top scorer was Bill Flamank, who had 19 points.
That game marks the only neutral-site clash in the nine-game history of the series.
For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee basketball program, visit UTsports.com/basketball and follow @Vol_Hoops on Twitter and Instagram.
