Happy Monday, Tennessee fans.
I hope all your weeks have gotten off to a great start. There’s still some Tennessee Volunteers-related happenings out there in the world, so let’s get to them.
1) What a gross weekend in Nashville for Tennessee basketball, for both the men and the women.
I watched most – or at least as much as I could stomach – of the Vols’ 76-75 loss to the Commodores on Saturday. I saw a team – not the Vols, but in Vanderbilt – who played with a high level of intensity and was more physical for long stretches. That’s……concerning.
Tennessee’s road woes are beginning to concern me. This is a team that doesn’t play with the same energy away from Thompson-Boling Arena that they do in front of their home crowd. It’s obvious, and it’s becoming a huge problem. Of course winning on the road is tougher, but this team lacks an edge and that extra gear that they do at home when they’re on the road. That’s going to get them beaten quickly in March.
To their credit, they fought back from down 10 points with just over 4 minutes to play and had a chance to tie it twice in the final seconds of the game. I thought and even said to myself that Lanier had it in the bag after he made the first. Perhaps that was a jinx.
Oh, and how there was no review of the Vanderbilt player clearly standing out of bounds with 0.6 seconds left is beyond me. Not saying Tennessee would have won, but they clearly deserved one last chance at a catch and shoot there.
2) And yeah, the Lady Vols dropped their own heartbreaker in Memorial Gym just one day later.
That one ended on the other end of the floor, and in equally heartbreaking fashion. Vanderbilt drove and missed a layup, but Zee Spearman mistimed her jump, and the rebound went over her hands. Of course, a Vandy player grabbed it and laid it in with 0.4 left to sneak away with a 71-70 win.
Just that kind of weekend in a gym that really might be haunted for Tennessee basketball.
3) But there was some good news over the weekend for Tennessee athletics, and it’s on the football field. Josh Heupel secured the services of Duke transfer RB Star Thomas.
Thomas totaled 1024 scrimmage yards and 8 touchdowns last year for the Blue Devils. Where I like him with the Vols is obviously as part of a rotation with DeSean Bishop and Peyton Lewis, but also as a pass catcher. That’s something that Tennessee has SORELY lacked in its offense in recent years, getting the ball in the hands of the RBs on screens and designed passes. Thomas had 20 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown last year. By comparison, Dylan Sampson had 20 for 143 yards in 2024.
As such, hopefully Thomas is someone that Heupel and Joey Halzle can incorporate and turn into a weapon next fall. They’ll have an entire offseason to work on it.
Go Vols!