Tennessee coach Rick Barnes recaps the Vols' win against South Carolina Mike Wilson/News Sentinel
Frank Martin shared a compliment as big as any he has received in the coaching profession on Tuesday night.
The words came from Rick Barnes, who told the Gamecocks coach that “he wanted his team to play like South Carolina” at SEC Media Days in October.
After the Vols swept the regular-season series from the Gamecocks, Martin returned the favor with a hearty compliment and affirmation that Tennessee is doing that.
“His team reminds me a lot of my team last year,” Martin said following Tennessee’s 70-67 win. “Just a team that’s tied at the hip and they’re relentless on both ends of the floor.”
South Carolina coach Frank Martin had high praise for the Vols Mike Wilson/News Sentinel
That’s high praise from the Gamecocks coach, whose team made a stunning run to the Final Four last season built on bludgeoning defense and a star player in Sindarius Thornwell. And it hits squarely on what Tennessee does aspire to be – not necessarily exactly South Carolina, but a team similarly built on stifling defense that turns into offense and makes life miserable for an opponent.
More: Tennessee Vols basketball aspires for bothersome identity
“We’re very similar in the way we want to play basketball and we’re going to be in ugly games,” Barnes said. “We know that. You look at his team a year ago, they played arguably harder than any team in college basketball and, I think, that’s why the country fell in love with them.
“At times, they struggled to score, but their defense and their grit kept them in games.”
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The talk of being like South Carolina began in the spring, sophomore guard Jordan Bowden said, when coaches asked the No. 17 Vols (19-6, 9-4 SEC) who the toughest team they played in the SEC was last year.
More: Vols basketball struggles, sneaks past against South Carolina
They all said the Gamecocks because of their defensive toughness in two physical losses that served as lessons for a young Tennessee team.
“I remember we preached that before the season,” sophomore forward Grant Williams said. “If you asked us what team played the hardest or what team that just played tough defense last year, we would say South Carolina. It was consistent.
“To emulate them and also create our own standard is something we preached a lot this year.”
Tennessee forward Grant Williams recaps the Vols' win against South Carolina Mike Wilson/News Sentinel
Before the season started, Williams cited Tennessee’s desired identity as being “a team that nobody wants to play against because of how physical and tough we are.” He said gritty is the defining trait of such a team and the blueprint was “South Carolina last year.”
He believes the Vols have done “a pretty good job” living up to that goal through 25 games.
“I think we have a ways to go because we have games where we are really, really good at it,” Williams said. “There are other games where we are lackadaisical and not playing with as much pressure.”
Tennessee guard Jordan Bowden recaps the Vols' defense Mike Wilson/News Sentinel
The Vols have held teams to 65.5 points per game in their past 11 SEC games since high-scoring games to open league play against Arkansas and Auburn.
They’ve won nine of those games heading into Georgia at 6 p.m. ET Saturday (SEC Network), including two grinders against the Gamecocks as they steadily try to hone in on the same style of play that led South Carolina to success.
“At the beginning of the season, we set that standard of playing hard on defense,” Bowden said. “That’s one of those things we’ve got to take on in the rest of these games. We just got to get better every day in practice and get ready for Georgia on Saturday.”