Tennessee Basketball survives to start season with win

Tennessee Basketball finally started its season on Tuesday, and the Vols survived against Colorado to start the season 1-0.

After a delayed start to the season, Rick Barnes‘ Tennessee basketball squad finally hit the hardwood to start its season. The Vols faced the Colorado Buffaloes on Tuesday night, and with the start of the season, now every team in the top-25 has started its season.

The Vols’ starters consisted of Santiago Vescovi, Victor Bailey, Josiah-Jordan James, Yves Pons, and John Fulkerson. Neither Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson started the game, and the two five-star freshmen had a difficult first half.

It was a closely contested battle for most of the night. The Vols jumped out to a big lead early, which helped the Vols hold the advantage throughout the game. After a 12-2 run to start the game, the Vols continued its dominance and showed how powerful they can be by improving to a 26-10 lead, but after that, Colorado started chipping away at Tennessee’s lead.

Colorado cut the Vols’ lead to just seven at halftime and quickly brought it to a two-point game early in the second half. Tennessee’s offense showed again how good it can be. The Vols quickly extended its lead again to eight and hovered around an eight-point lead for most of the second half.

The Vols weren’t able to pull away in the closing minutes of the game, but they were able to hold on to the win. Tennessee was able to survive with a 56-47 win over the Buffaloes.

Under Barnes, we’ve seen some players go through amazing development and transformation. We’re coming to the end of another transformation with Fulkerson. Four years ago, I didn’t think Fulkerson would play four years at Tennessee and be a valuable starter to the roster. I will gladly say I was wrong about Fulky.

Fulkerson was one of two players to finish the game with more than ten points, and Vescovi was the other player that joined him. It seems that Fulky is a leader on the court and in the locker room. Barnes has a fairly young team, but Fulkerson’s guidance as a senior can help the younger guys develop early in their career.

Barnes also addressed Tennessee’s issues offensively, and it seems like he’s addressed it successfully. Of course, we can’t judge the success of this team based on one game, but it’s a great start.

Vescovi teamed with Bailey, Johnson, and Springer have the potential to be one of the best backcourts we’ve seen from Barnes’ Vols.

Tennessee will hit the court again on December 12 to take on Cincinnati. Hopefully, this game won’t go postponed, and the Vols can move forward with this season without any hiccups.