A Closer Look: Florida at Tennessee (ESPN, 9 p.m.)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Softball, Scott Carter
This is Florida-Tennessee Basketball Week in case you're too tired to notice thanks to staying up late to watch the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night.
The Florida and Tennessee men square off tonight at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville in an early-season SEC clash. And then on Thursday, the No. 5-ranked Tennessee women visit the O-Dome to face the Gators.
With the men's game tipping off in about four hours, here are five things to watch for as the Gators try to win their season-high fifth consecutive game:
--Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, in his sixth year, is serving the second of an eight-game suspension for misleading NCAA investigators looking into Pearl's recruiting tactics. The Vols lost the first game of Pearl's suspension, 68-65, at Arkansas on Saturday in their SEC opener.
In Pearl's absence, sixth-year associate head coach Tony Jones is coaching the Vols. Will Pearl's absence work to Florida's advantage tonight? Florida head coach Billy Donovan expects Tennessee to be well-prepared as usual.
“I don't know all the inner workings of their staff or how they're handling the situation,'' Donovan said Monday. “I would say this: When I had John Pelphrey and Anthony Grant and guys who were with me for a long period of time, you all start to think alike and prepare alike.
“Certainly their staff at Tennessee has been together for a long period of time. It's a difficult situation for them. What kind of impact that has on their team and game? They're probably more equipped to handle that than I would be.”
--The Gators lead the SEC in rebounding margin at +7.9 per game; Tennessee ranks third at +6.6. So whichever team wins the rebounding battle could have an edge. Vols center Brian Williams is sixth in the SEC, averaging 7.9 rebounds a game, and freshman forward Tobias Harris is ninth at 7.3. Florida is led by forward Chandler Parsons, who is averaging 6.7 boards.
--Can the Gators finally snap their losing streak in Knoxville with Pearl absent? Florida hasn't won at Tennessee since 2005, the season before Pearl took over the Vols. Overall, the Vols have won 10 of 13 against the Gators, including an 8-2 record under Pearl.
--Parsons is playing his best basketball of the season recently, averaging 13.3 points, 10 rebounds and 5.7 assists over the last three games. He'll be matched against Harris and Tennessee's 6-foot-7 shooting guard Scotty Hopson at times, so Parsons will be challenged offensively and defensively. Parsons must remain aggressive and play with the same kind of confidence to have a big impact against the physical Vols.
--Donovan spoke Monday how he wants to see a better defensive effort from the Gators than they showed in Saturday's 77-71 win over Ole Miss. The Gators are second in the conference in scoring defense (60.3) and will try to defend the 3-point line better. In Saturday's game, Ole Miss hit nine three-pointers, including four in the second half from star guard Chris Warren.
Tennessee comes into the game 10th in the SEC in three-point accuracy, shooting 33.1 percent. Melvin Goins leads the Vols from beyond the arc, shooting 44.8 percent (13 of 29).
“More than anything else [against Ole Miss], I thought we were not aggressive enough. Ole Miss really drove us hard. We got caught several times below the three-point line, which allowed a couple of those guys to knock down 3s,'' Donovan said. “We needed to be up higher on the floor than we were.''
**Here are five links related to tonight's game if you want more info:
--Gators freshman F/C Patric Young is showing signs of improvement after his recent attitude adjustment. Click here for a story I wrote for GatorZone.com.
--The Gators will face a Tennessee team without Pearl on the bench or in the building. Click here for a story from the Gainesville Sun.
--The Vols expect a high-energy Gators team at Thompson-Boling Arena tonight. Click here for a story from the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
--Florida is starting to find the right offensive formula based on its last three games, averaging more than 77 points a game. Click here for a story from the Florida Times-Union.
--With Pearl suspended, assistant coach Jason Shay is a one-man recruiting machine for the Vols. Click here for a story from the New York Times.
