Tennessee basketball: Vols set to sweep Cal’s Cats

The Tennessee basketball team swaggers into Rupp Arena tonight with a chance to sweep Kentucky for the first time in the millennium.

The Tennessee basketball team roared into February on a five-game winning streak.

What happened to the Volunteer team projected as the thirteenth best team in the SEC?

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John Adams of the Knoxnews.com has a pretty good idea. After the January 22 loss to Auburn, Adams said, “Rarely have I heard a coach so repeatedly target his team’s shortcomings to a media audience.”

Since that Auburn loss, Tennessee basketball has won eight of nine games.

Barnes near tirade focused on maturity. Message received.

Tennessee forward Grant Williams said, “I don’t know what to say about other guys — I don’t speak for them — but I definitely say I’m immature and I need to grow up.”

Grow sh-mow, the Volunteers have sprouted into a rocketship.

Tennessee now sports a 17 – 5 record, and is second in the SEC at 7-3. Now the Volunteers find themselves in second place in the SEC and favored against Kentucky in tonight’s matchup.

Deja vu again?

Coach Rick Barnes is paid it be wary, however, and he is. Tennessee basketball has been here before, twelve months before.

Last year Tennessee struggled to close out what began as a season full of promise. Now the Volunteers are a year older, but are they wiser?

“That’s what you hope when your team starts getting older, that they realize that this is the month where things start getting separated,” Barnes said told Knoxnews. “If you want to be one of those teams that people are talking about in another month, this month’s important.”

That’s what the Volunteers hoped when they hyped this season.

Coach Cal’s Tennessee basketball breakdown

“They are scoring because they are being efficient” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said of Tennessee.  “The other thing I like that they are doing is, their assists to made baskets, that number is probably one of the top in the country. That is making the game easy for each other.”

Next: How legit is Auburn basketball?

It is also making it possible for Tennessee basketball to sweep a Kentucky basketball team for the first time since 1999.