Nichols: Basketball Vols shift into elite gear as Jaden Springer delivers 21-point performance
After then-No. 12 Tennessee beat Cincinnati, freshman guard Jaden Springer said this about the Vols’ ice-cold shooting against the Bearcats: “As soon as we start clicking on offense, it’s over.”
The ‘clicking’ began on Tuesday as Tennessee took down Appalachian State 79-38.
Now, though? That click sounds more like a gong, booming and bouncing through the snow-capped Smokies.
10th-ranked Tennessee eclipsed the century mark on Friday night against Tennessee Tech, beating the Golden Eagles 103-49 to move to 4-0 on the season.
Springer led the way with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He also had six rebounds and a season-high six assists, appearing anything but a mere freshman.
“He was terrific,” Barnes said of Springer. “I thought he really played within himself and I thought he had a great feel for what he was looking for. Him taking care of the ball was huge and his assists were terrific.
Jaden really understands where he wants to get the ball for himself and he obviously is a very good finisher. With mid-range and close to the basket he is very good at that, but he has really worked hard on his three- point shot. I thought he showed great balance and again defensively he continued to get better overall there. We know he can guard the ball, but I just thought he was terrific all around tonight.”
At one point, Springer had 15 points, where Tennessee Tech had 17 as a team.
He was one of six Vols in double-figures against the Golden Eagles, as Tennessee won by 54 for its eighth-largest victory margin in program history.
“Tonight, was really fun,” Springer said. “I heard you all say that six players scored in double-digits, so when you have games where everyone is eating and everyone is playing well, that’s definitely fun, because you want to see your teammates do well in the same way you do well.”
That 54-point margin is important, too, as we chronicle the meteoric (albeit non-conference) rise of this team.
The Vols won by nine against Colorado and Cincinnati.
Then came the 41-point win over Appalachian State and, Friday, a 103-49 outburst that was just as phenomenal offensively as the Vols have been on the defensive side through the first three games.
So yes, Jaden, your assertion was correct: when Tennessee is clicking, it is indeed “over” for everyone else.
But Springer wasn’t the only one on the floor, although his 22 minutes of action were phenomenal.
As mentioned, there were five other Vols that scored in double-figures Friday.
John Fulkerson had 13 points, 2 of which came on a bucket that featured Fulkerson’s best ‘Air Jordan’ impersonation.
(Side note: there is no better social media team than Tennessee’s. The photo, the motion graphic, and the 90’s Bulls intro here are perfect.)
VJ Bailey and Josiah-Jordan James added 15 apiece, proving once more the electric newcomer and dependable presence they’ve been so far.
And Keon Johnson? He dumped in 13 points as well, although ‘dumped’ probably isn’t the right word.
Johnson, spun, leaped, pumped, and ducked his way to those buckets. He even had one move that included each of those verbs, as well as an underlying message to Vol fans:
“Enjoy it while it lasts, because I won’t be here for long.”
Overall, Tennessee went 42-for-72 from inside the arc, with a 9-for-19 clip from 3-point range. The Vols also went 10-for-14 at the free-throw line, showing the charity-stripe consistency that saved this team against Cincinnati.
Still, as good as Tennessee was offensively, it stepped up again on defense and in depth.
The Vols grabbed 25 points off 15 TTU turnovers. They also nabbed 8 steals, scored 18 points off fast breaks and flushed another 18 through in second-chance baskets.
The Vols continued to battle on the boards as well, racking up 45 rebounds to Tennessee Tech’s 26 to mark their second-straight game with at least 40 boards.
Most incredibly, though, Tennessee had 50 points — 50 — off the bench.
That kind of depth, and especially the combinations Rick Barnes has found so far, will make this team as tough as any in the nation once SEC play and tournament time roll around.
“We like it and we want to have depth,” Barnes said. “In the past we have had to play through one or two guys and now we have different things we can do because we do have depth and we know that we have really good defensive depth.”
Perhaps most frighteningly for upcoming opponents, though, was that Barnes didn’t stop his analysis there.
“We still have to get better and still have a ways to go in different areas there and we have to continue to develop a consistent offense with depth,” Barnes continued. “If we can do what we did tonight, it’s something we saw ourselves doing.”
Jaden Springer’s assertion about offensive clicking was lethal at the time, as one could only imagine what would happen once baskets began dropping for Tennessee.
But now, knowing those shots are falling, yet Barnes still has plenty more tricks and improvements up his sleeve?
Well, that should be an early Christmas present for basketball fans everywhere.
