'Voltellos take series vs Ole Miss; Hoops in Sweet 16 Tennessee used two run-rule victories to take their SEC home opening series over Ole Miss.


A blown 9th inning save on Saturday kept the Volunteers from a series sweep.


Tennessee improved to 21-4 and 3-3 in SEC on the season.

Friday Tennessee ambushed the Rebel Blackbear Landsharks on a rainy night to open the weekend series.


Powered by five home runs, Tennessee run-ruled Ole Miss 15-3 in seven innings.


The Vols scored five runs — all with two outs — in the bottom of the 2nd to take an early lead.

A Robin Villeneuve 3-run home run in the bottom of the 3rd made it 8-0.


Kavares Tears' line drive hit just above the wall in dead centerfield for a 2-run shot that made it 10-0 in the 4th inning.


Christian Moore’s 2nd solo home run of the game and was the first of four runs scored in the 6th inning.


AJ Causey earned the win, going 5.2 innings.


Saturday Ole Miss took an early 1-0 lead on an Andrew Fisher solo home run in the top of the 1st.


A 2-out, 2-run line drive home run into the left field porches by Hunter Ensley put Tennessee on top 2-1 in the bottom of the 2nd. It would be the Vols’s only hit until the 7th inning.


Tennessee’s lead didn’t last long as the Rebels tied it with another solo home run with one out in the top of the 3rd.


With one out and a full count in the top of the 6th, Fisher’s 2nd solo home run of the game gave Ole Miss a 3-2 lead.


Vols pitching coach Frank Anderson was ejected from the game after a mound visit following the home run and suspended for Sunday’s series finale.


Vols starter Drew Beam went 5.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits (3 HRs) with five strikeouts.


Tennessee loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 7th and tied the game when Dalton Bargo’s ground ball to 1st was thrown away as the Rebels attempted to turn a double play.


With two on and one out in the bottom of the 8th, Blake Burke lined a ball off the right field wall that gave the Vols a 5-4 lead.


After a walk and sac bunt moved the potential tying run into scoring position in the top of the 9th, Ole Miss leadoff hitter Jackson Ross doubled to right centerfield to tie the game at 5.


Aaron Combs then replaced AJ Russell, who left the game with a forearm injury.


A 2-strike single with the bases loaded gave Ole Miss a 7-5 lead and the Rebels would add another insurance run on a hit-and-run that took away a potential inning-ending double play.


The Vols brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 9th in pinch hitter Cannon Peebles but a strikeout evened the series at one a piece.

Sunday Tennessee wasted no time taking the lead in the rubber game.


Blake Burke hit his SEC-leading 13th double down the left field line in the bottom of the 1st, then Kavares Tears sent a 2-0 get-me-over fastball over the right centerfield wall to put the Vols up 2-0.


Ole Miss got one run back in the top of the 2nd with a 2-out RBI single by the 9-hole hitter. The batter was thrown out at 2nd to end the inning. The Rebels would’ve had runners on the corners for the top of the order.


Nate Snead replaced Vols starter Zander Sechrist with one out in the top of the 3rd and got out of a bases loaded jam.


Tennessee then took control of the game putting up five runs in the bottom of the 3rd.


Christian Moore’s 2-run oppo shot barely cleared the right field wall and landed in the Vols’ bullpen. The LNS wall scraper was CMo’s 3rd home run of the series and 10th on the season. He now has 37 career home runs, three shy of tying the school record and one behind teammate Blake Burke.


Later in the frame, Dylan Dreiling crushed a 3-run, no-doubt home run to right field that gave Tennessee a 7-1 lead.


Ole Miss hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 4th but the Vols responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. First on a Dean Curley solo home run that nearly hit W Lynn’s flag in the left field porches, then a 2-out RBI double by Billy Amick to the left centerfield gap that scored Burke from 1st base.


Curley added a 2-run single in the bottom of the 5th then Billy Amick hit Tennessee’s 5th grand slam of the season to extend the lead to 15-3 and bring the run-run into effect.


Snead pitched the final 4.2 innings to earn the win. He struck out a career-high six while allowing three runs on six hits.

Notes: — Tennessee had seven 2-out RBIs in Sunday’s series finale. The Vols now have 108 2-out RBIs on the season. Entering play on Sunday, the next most among SEC teams was Kentucky with 69. Needless to say, the Vols’s .329 batting average with two outs this season is also tops in the SEC, with Kentucky the only other team in the league hitting above .300 with two outs.


— All six of the Vols who have started at least 20 games this season have at least eight home runs, led by Billy Amick and Christian Moore with 10 apiece.


— The Vols host Tennessee Tech on Tuesday before a 3-game series with Georgia this weekend.


The Bulldogs are coming off a sweep of Alabama and have the nation’s top home run hitter in Charlie Condon. The O/U for Condon home runs this weekend is 3.5. The Dawgs and Vols ranked first and second nationally in home runs this season.


— With Zander Sechrist starting on Sunday, who starts Tuesday’s midweek game will be interesting. The Vols are still trying to develop some pitching depth in the bullpen, especially with right-handers now that AJ Russell was pulled with an injury for the second time this season.

Tennessee Basketball In The Sweet 16 It was far from pretty but Tennessee is one of 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament.


A few thoughts from the Texas game:

— 3-of-25 from three. That stat alone means Tennessee is very lucky to still be playing. Plenty of teams went home over the weekend who played better games than the Vols in the 2nd round but surviving and advancing is all that matters.


— The Vols don’t win without Tobe Awaka. His eight 1st half points were massive in a game where Jonas Aidoo struggled from the start.


— Jordan Gainey played one of his better games against quality competition. Scored four points and made a couple of hustle plays on defense in the 1st half. Was a non-factor in the 2nd half and still played too many minutes but him being a net positive in the 1st half helped the Vols take a 9-point lead into halftime.


— Despite the glaring mismatch Oregon would’ve presented inside vs the Vols, would’ve much rather faced the Ducks than Creighton. The 3 seed Blue Jays reached the Elite Eight last season as a 6 seed and are one of the best offensive teams in the country. They shoot a ton of threes. Defensively, they have arguably the best rim protector in the country and run teams off the 3-point line. Tennessee can’t shoot any worse going forward, but they’ll need to have a good shooting night to out-score the Blue Jays, who lost twice to Kim English’s Providence team this season.


I'll be on with Brian and Tony today ...


Talk to you then..


@Mattdixon3'

'T Club Team:

Random musings as the Barnes Ballers stagger a bit but keep dancing:

YOUR BIG ORANGE TUMBLER ... Has to be half-full after the Large Orange survived Saturday night at Charlotte. My point in Friday's blog about UT teams under Rick Barnes usually failing in the tourney because of poor shooting almost came true, but thankfully did not. Tennessee set a record for the lowest shooting mark in a tourney win. Wow. Jonas Aidoo and Dalton Knecht came through at the free throw line and another early round disaster was averted.

ON TO THE MOTOR CITY .... As Vol Nation should represent at Little Caesars Arena, the 20,000-seat home of the Detroit Pistons and Red Wings. Friday night's game with a very good Creighton team stands between this team, this coach and this fanbase from an opportunity to make that elusive Final Four. The get-in price for the Friday session is currently hovering around $200. A Delta flight from McGhee Tyson is going to cost you a grand so the 7-hour drive doesn't look too bad in comparison.

THE BLUEJAYS FROM THE BIG EAST... Are outstanding offensively, ranked 5th in the country in EFG percentage at 57.4% and 14th-year HC Greg McDermott's team is 20th nationally in defensive EFG at 46.2. The game opened with the Volunteers as a 1.5-point favorite and has been bet up to -2.5 so far. The Dean will host a massive watch party at Corner 16 Friday night.

IS THERE A DIS-KNECHT ... Going on with our SEC Player of the Year? There's no question Dalton Knecht has cooled from the torrid pace he set for most of the season. He's shooting 38.8% from the field over the last six games after being close to 50% for most of the season ... he's 46.1% for the season going to Detroit. Knecht is hitting 32.7 from three-point land over the last six after being in the low 40s all season. He now's down to 39.1% for the season. Ziggy has also been on the cool side of late, shooting about four percentage points off his season average. Of course, Ziggy's overall game was huge in the win over Texas. With regard to Knecht, is it fatigue, law of averages, better defensive strategy from opponents? Tony and Beanstar will break that down today.

THE FIGHTING VOLTELLOS WIN A SERIES ... In the league home opener but the sweep got away when the bullpen couldn't hold a one-run lead on Saturday. Otherwise, the Vols run-ruled Ole Miss on Friday and Sunday by scoring 30 runs in those games, including 10 homers. C-Moore hit three homers on the weekend and Kavares Tears went 7-for-11 and had two roundtrippers. A.J. Causey breezed to another league win on Friday and Nate Snead came on in relief to collect the dub yesterday. For the second straight weekend, the Vols lost Drew Beam's start, although A.J. Russell sustained the L in relief. Hope Russell hasn't sustained a setback arm-wise.

LADY VOL UPDATE ... Kellie Harper's 6th-seeded squad guns for its third straight Sweet 16 this afternoon but they'll have to do it on the home court of #3-seed N.C. State ... Karen Weekly's softball team completes its road series at South Carolina tonight after winning the first two against the Gamecocks.


GEORGIA CRIMEDOG UPDATE ... It didn't take Florida transfer RB Trevor Etienne long to get "up to speed" on how things roll in Kirby Smart's program. He was booked over the weekend for DUI and reckless driving.


Orange Throat'

'ZZ Stop and Kyle Alexander injuries impact Coach Barnes' March Perception Rick Barnes has won over 800 games during a head coaching career that dates back to the early 90s and has included stints at 5 different schools. But he's only taken one team to a Final Four. That was Texas in 2003.

Barnes' record in the NCAA Tournament is 27-26, which isn't great, but not as awful as some perceive.


He has been a March Madness participant much more often than not. However only 1 Final Four appearance out of 26 chances leaves lots to be desired.


Coach Barnes' teams are usually highly seeded. On multiple occasions they have lost to a lower seeded team much earlier in the tournament than they should have. That is a fair point to make.

It has to be pointed out that the NCAA Tournament is a random, single elimination crap shoot where lots of luck can be needed to advance real far. Lots of luck not only includes favorable bounces of the ball, but also key players staying injury free for an entire season.


Case in point: The Vols were a 3 seed in 2018. They shared an SEC regular season title with Auburn, swept Kentucky in the regular season before losing to the Cats in the SEC Tournament championship game. The #1 seed in their region was Virginia, who became the first 1 seed in tournament history to lose in the first round to a 16 seed, who was Maryland-Baltimore County. Whatever and whoever that is. The 2 seed was Cincinnati, who blew a huge lead before losing to 7 seeded Nevada in the second round. The Vols easily dispatched 14 seed Wright St in the first round. They looked ready to make a serious run, right?


At the end of the Wright St game, Kyle Alexander sustained an injury that didn't look to be too serious. Not much was made about it by the TV crew. But his hand injury was serious enough to keep him out of their second round game vs 11 seeded Loyola Chicago. Loyola knocked out 6 seed Miami in the first round on a 3 pointer in the final seconds. You know what happened vs the Vols.

If Kyle Alexander plays, the lack of a rim protecting center versus Loyola would not have been an issue. As that's what came back to bite the Vols in that game.


13 seed Buffalo knocked out 4 seeded Arizona, paving the way for 9 seed Kansas St to meet Loyola in the Elite 8 game. Kansas St took advantage of 1 seed Virginia's absence in the second round. K St upset 5th seeded Kentucky in the Sweet 16. That bracket opened up nicely for the Vols. Their loss to Loyola by 1 point will always sting and bring out the what if Kyle Alexander had been healthy question.

Fast forward to 2023. Last season. Point guard Zakai Zeigler tore an ACL vs Arkansas during the second to final game of the regular season. He wouldn't play again until November. The Vols earned a 4 seed, which enabled them to get past Louisiana in the first round. Tennessee was a slight underdog to 5th seeded Duke in the second round due to no Zakai. But they dispatched Duke pretty easily by 13 points, bullying them around in the process.


The 1 seed in this region was Purdue, who became the second #1 seed in tournament history to lose to a 16 seed in the first round. Both times that's happened, Tennessee was in the same regional. Wild. 9th seeded Florida Atlantic was fortunate to beat Memphis in round 1 before taking advantage of 16 seed Fairleigh-Dickinson in the second round. You know what happened in the Sweet 16 vs the Vols. The Vols would have only needed to win over a very beatable 3 seed in Kansas St in the Elite 8 to make it to a Final Four. With Zeigler healthy, they might have been favored to do just that. I should also point out that 2 seed Marquette got upset by Michigan St in the second round. This bracket also opened up favorably for the Vols. But without Zakai, they were not equipped to take advantage.


What if at least 1 if not both the 2018 and 2023 teams had made it to a Final Four? How would coach Barnes' history in March have been looked at differently?


That question needs to be asked in fairness to Coach Barnes. Unfortunately, both seasons will have to remain giant what ifs. Around these parts what ifs can be sometimes the best we can do.


Just my two cents

Through The Glass

Brian Hartman
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