Vols get by Vandy will try to stay on track against Georgia & Louisville

The Tennessee Volunteer basketball team got back on track with a 71-66 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores Saturday night following a loss to Florida last week. The Vols had five players in double figures and held Vanderbilt to just 47.3 percent shooting for the game. “I guess we made the plays when we needed them,” said Tennessee Coach Buzz Peterson at the post-game press conference. “I thought we played hard but I don’t think we played smart at certain points of the game.” The Vols got an unlikely offensive contribution from senior guard Thaydeus Holden. Limited to duty as a role player during the seasons first half, Holden had his best game of the year and second best (scored a career high 20-points in a game last year) of his Tennessee career with 17 points on 5-5 shooting behind the three-point arc. “I just kept shooting,” Holden stated. “I don’t look at percentages. I don’t even look at the shot sheet. After I hit the first one, I’m pretty much on a roll.” Peterson was pleased with Holden’s contribution as well as the play of forwards Brandon Crump and Derek Stribling. “Thaydeus Holden had some big points for us tonight,” Peterson said. “Brandon Crump did a tremendous job on (Vanderbilt leading scorer Dan) Freije. Derek Stribling was on him early and then Ron Higgins went to him. As much as Holden helped the team with his outside shooting, he almost did them in by picking up a technical foul for trash talking with five seconds left following a thunderous Brandon Crump dunk. Vanderbilt hit one of their technical free throws but got no closer than four points during the final seconds. “I’m proud of the way he (Holden) played up until that last foul,” Peterson said. “His job is primarily just to catch and shoot. I like for kids to get excited but that last technical foul is the type of stuff that really gets under a coaches skin.” Peterson has led the Vols to a 2-2 SEC record with the win over Vanderbilt, along with the victory at Ole Miss, coupled with losses to Kentucky and at Florida. The Vols will travel to Athens, Georgia Wednesday for a Eastern Division showdown against the Georgia Bulldogs that will give the winner sole possession of third place in the division. With the SEC being especially formidable this year, a third place Eastern Division finish would almost guarantee a spot in the NCAA Tournament. As of games played through Sunday night, Florida, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama and LSU are in line to be the first SEC schools chosen for the field of 64. Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi and Mississippi State are the four teams that will be fighting it out down the stretch for the last open tournament spots. This week UT will have a chance to jump to the forefront of those middle-of-the-road teams with Wednesday’s game at Georgia and a non-conference home game Saturday night against the Rick Pitino coached Louisville Cardinals. Peterson knows all too well were his team stands with 14 games remaining on the regular season schedule, but he isn’t ready to start looking too far ahead. “We’ve taken the approach that we play every Wednesday and Saturday,” Peterson said. “We take it one week at a time. Our goal as a team is to try and progress every week. I’ll take a look at the stats and see how some individuals have progressed this week.” On a night of balanced scoring, it was Holden who showed the most progression against Vandy. In 27 minutes, Holden had 17 points, four rebounds, two assists, no turnovers and five fouls. The SEC’s leading scorer Ron Slay had a solid game with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists in 38 minutes of playing time. Freshman point guard C.J. Watson has turned into one of the most steady point guards in the conference since SEC play started. Watson scored 11 points and had six assists in 36 minutes Saturday night. Watson leads the SEC in minutes played and is on pace to be the first Vol since Allan Houston to lead the team in minutes as a freshman. Also having one of his better games of the year against the Commodores was Brandon Crump, who had 11 points and four rebounds in 24 minutes.