Schofield's energy helped fuel the Vols
Admiral Schofield elevated or maybe he dove.
Either way, Tennessee’s freshman forward left his feet and hurled his body toward the baseline. All in hopes of saving a loose ball to a teammate and thus denying visiting No. 20 Kentucky a look at the bucket.
Refs ruled Schofield’s foot on the baseline. Replays appeared to suggest otherwise.
But not reflected there or in the box score: Schofield’s hustle. It helped energize his teammates on this team, he believed, and it helped the Vols upend the Wildcats, 84-77.
“I think that after Jabari (McGee) left, because he was our big energy guy, I think I took the role on off being the energy guy off the bench and that’s what you know propelled me into the starting lineup. Just being that energy guy,” said Schofield, who started his 15th straight game and contributed 11 points as well as eight boards.
“Honestly, I wanted it. My teammates wanted it. And we know how we started, it was really just because we were missing shots. I think that as far as my energy and Detrick hitting that big three when he came in, it just propelled us throughout the game.”
Did he hope his selfless launch had helped elevate his teammates down the stretch, with the Vols clinging to a narrow lead and a mere 3-plus minutes left on the clock?
“I didn’t see my feet. I was just giving my all,” Schofield said. “That was one of the things I wanted to do tonight, just give my all. I just think that I thought I saved it, but refs make the calls. They miss some, they get some. I’m not too worried about it; we got the win.”
Giving their all is about all Barnes had challenged his team to do on the heels of blowing back-to-back double-digit leads last week against first Alabama and then lowly TCU.
And when Tennessee quickly fell behind in this game, 34-13, it seemed there would be no danger of a blown opportunity for victory. Gradually, after being down just 42-36 at the break, the Vols took their first lead, 56-54, deep into the second half.
“Obviously, we’ve had the wrong formula,” Barnes cracked, deadpan-style, in post-game.
But Barnes said, on the heels of now his biggest win as Vols commander, that he believed his team could compete and have a chance to win every night if it followed his pleas of playing every possession with maximum energy.
The brutish, 6-foot-5 Schofield --- who looks like he should be signing to play defensive end on Wednesday for Butch Jones’ squad --- said the Vols worked hard for this moment but recognized more hard work must follow. He hit a key three in the second half, as the Vols hit five of 10 in the final 20 minutes, and Tennessee found a way to win a game in which it trailed for 26 minutes, 29 seconds.
“Right now in the moment, celebrate the win because we worked really hard up to this point,” Schofield said. “We’ve had some heartbreak-losses that we shouldn’t have lost. Celebrate right now, but we know we’ve got a lot to do. This game really showed us how great we can be.”