Sanning: Vandy Version of Bowden is What Vols Need
The header may be self-explanatory, but allow me to unleash.
Jordan Bowden knows how to score the basketball, I’ve personally known that for 10 years now. I watched him drop 27 in eighth grade while nailing a nearly half court buzzer beater.
Just four years later, he set a Carter High School single-game scoring record that still stands today: 52 against arch rival Gibbs.
While the high school and collegiate levels are two different monsters, scoring is an ability to can transcend to the next level, and Bowden’s has rather well up to this point.
He hasn’t been the Vols’ leading man in that department, but he hasn’t been called upon to be.
Up until last season, he had a two-time SEC Player of the Year to rely on. On top of that, All-SEC selection Admiral Schofield was no slouch, either.
Bowden, a Knoxville native, concluded his Tennessee career with a perfect 4-0 record at Memorial Gymnasium last night. He was the primary catalyst behind it, too.
Notching 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, the former Carter Hornet got the best of Vandy’s Scotty Pippen Jr. and Jerry Stackhouse’s defense.
After looking like a shell of his former self against Georgia and South Carolina, Bowden’s confidence appears to be back, and at just the right time.
Tennessee returns home to face Ole Miss on Tuesday and will then make the trek out west for a showdown in Allen Fieldhouse with sixth-ranked Kansas.
Needless to say, the Vols would benefit from another confidence-building win before facing that challenge.
The Jayhawks are the nation’s top team in adjusted defensive efficiency and come in at 11th on offense, taking the top overall spot in Kenpom.com’s ratings.
Tennessee doesn’t show up until the 55th spot on that list, with the Vols boasting the country’s 25th-best defense. The downside to that is that UT ranks 143rd in offensive efficiency.
Given the extenuating circumstances that have surrounded the UT program throughout the season, it comes as no surprise to see the Vols checking in at such a spot.
One simply does not replace Lamonte Turner’s poise and ability overnight, particularly down the stretch in closely contested games.
Bowden was thought to be the next in line, and still could be. The 6-foot-5 guard is the most explosive offensive weapon that Rick Barnes has remaining on his roster.
When he’s got it going, Bowden is capable of dropping 26 points with ease, as he did against Murray State on Nov. 12. When the shot is not falling, however, the senior guard has struggled at times with his confidence.
Head-scratching for a player with such skill, but it happens to the best of them from time to time.
In what has proven to be a trying senior season, Bowden continues to keep his head down and focus on the task-at-hand rather than try to please the outside-looking-in.
Wise choice.
At the end of the day, what is said in the media or what is written is not what these Tennessee Vols should have their sights set on.
They may not replicate last season’s success, but there are achievable goals in sight and for the Vols to reach them, they’ll need the version of Bowden they got on Saturday in Nashville.
It’s the only way.
