Terrence Hill Jr. Scores 18 as No. 11 Tennessee Smothers Radford 70-47

For about 12 minutes on Monday night, Radford had Tennessee, fresh off a three-spot slide in the new AP poll, exactly where it wanted it. The Highlanders led 10-6, the Vols were turning the ball over, and a crowd of 18,483 at Food City Center was waiting for the blowout everyone in Knoxville assumed was coming. It came eventually. No. 11 Tennessee clamped down, Terrence Hill Jr. scored 18 points after moving into the starting lineup, and a 16-0 second-half run turned a grind into a 70-47 win.

It was not pretty, and it did not need to be. Tennessee shot just 4 of 17 from 3 and kept giving the ball away, yet still won by 23 because Radford could not score against a defense that blocked nine shots, held the Highlanders to 26.2 percent from the floor and owned the paint 40-14.

Radford Lands the First Punches

The Highlanders came in 0-2 after losses at San Francisco and California, a 28.5-point underdog in their third straight road game. They played like a team that had not read the line. Gabriel Ferreira opened the scoring with two free throws, Tristan Gross matched an early Tyler Lundblade 3, and Gross added a step-back jumper to put Radford up 8-6 with 13:29 left in the half.

When Warren Keel Jr. floated one in at 12:25, Radford led 10-6, its largest lead of the night. Tennessee had two field goals in the first seven and a half minutes, a Lundblade 3 and a 14-footer from Dai Dai Ames, and the Vols' offense looked like it was still being introduced to itself.

The defense bailed them out. Jalen Haralson came off the bench and produced a steal and then a dunk to tie it at 10, and Miles Rubin started living at the rim. Rubin's layup tied it at 12, a Rubin dunk off a Troy Henderson feed put Tennessee ahead 14-12 at 8:14, and Henderson promptly stole the ball and laid it in for a 16-12 lead. Radford never led again.

Hill Takes Over Before the Break

Even after the Vols found their footing, Radford kept hanging around. Jordyn Kee, one of the Highlanders' offseason additions, buried a 3 at 6:09 to make it 20-19, and a Kee layup at 4:19 cut it to 23-21.

Then Hill went to work: a 3 at 4:07, a driving layup at 2:11 and a 26-footer off a DeWayne Brown II assist at 1:28. That was eight straight Tennessee points from one player, and it turned a two-point game into a 31-21 lead. Keel hit a 3 to answer, but Haralson threw down a dunk off a Hill assist with 49 seconds left, and Tennessee took a 33-24 lead into the locker room.

Hill finished 6 of 9 from the field, 2 of 4 from deep and a perfect 4 of 4 at the line, with three assists, two steals and zero fouls in 28 minutes. After scoring 17 off the bench in the opener, Hill moved into the starting lineup and looked every bit like the Vols' most reliable source of offense. Through two games, nobody on this roster creates a good shot as easily.

The 16-0 Run That Ended It

Radford showed real fight early in the second half. Rubin blocked two shots in four seconds, but Kee kept coming with a floater, and Keel converted a layup off a Ja'Corey Robinson steal to make it 44-33. Kee then drained a 25-footer at 12:31, and suddenly the Highlanders were within 46-36 with plenty of time left.

That was Radford's last point for 8 minutes and 32 seconds.

Haralson answered with a layup off a Henderson assist, and Tennessee rolled from there. Rubin scored inside, Juke Harris hit a 3 off a Hill feed, Hill scored on a drive, Haralson hit three free throws, Hill drove again and Brown finished a layup off a Hill assist at 5:43. When the dust settled, Tennessee had scored 16 unanswered points and led 62-36, its biggest lead of the night.

During the drought, the Highlanders committed four turnovers, three of them on steals by Rubin, Haralson and Henderson, and the possessions that did end in shots mostly ended in misses. Kee finally broke through with a three-point play at 3:59, and Radford won the final four minutes 11-8, but the outcome had been settled long before.

A Defense That Travels Anywhere

This is the part Rick Barnes will enjoy on film. Tennessee's offense was uneven, but the defense was suffocating for long stretches. Radford shot 16 of 61 overall and 5 of 24 from 3. The Vols blocked nine shots, with Rubin swatting three, and added 11 steals. They turned Radford's 17 turnovers into 19 points, while Radford managed only eight points off Tennessee's giveaways.

The numbers on Radford's starting five are brutal. The five starters combined to go 3 of 28 from the field and scored 15 points. Frederik Erichsen, who entered the night averaging 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds, went 0 of 7 with zero points and zero rebounds in 16 minutes. Robinson, the Highlanders' assist leader, was 0 of 6 but still bothered Tennessee with three steals and two blocks.

Almost all of Radford's offense came from two reserves. Kee scored 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting and 3 of 4 from deep, and Keel added 13 on 6 of 13. The rest of the roster shot 4 of 37. Radford did grab 13 offensive rebounds, which kept the score respectable for a half, but Tennessee won the glass 43-32 overall.

The Bench Carried the Load

Tennessee's reserves outscored its starters 36-34, and the trio of Ames, Haralson and Rubin combined for 32 points off the bench. Ames scored 13 in 18 minutes on 4 of 7 shooting and 5 of 6 at the line. Haralson had 11 points, six rebounds and three steals in 17 minutes, and that knack for turning defense into dunks changed the energy of the first half. Rubin was 4 of 5 from the field with eight points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

Henderson did not shoot much, finishing with two points, but handed out a team-high six assists in 17 minutes, and all six set up finishes by Rubin or Haralson. Brown, coming off a 17-point, 17-rebound opener, scored just four points this time but still grabbed 12 rebounds and added three assists and a block.

The concerns are on the perimeter. Harris, a Naismith Trophy watch list pick, went 1 of 9 from the field and 1 of 6 from 3 for six points, and through two games the preseason star has not found a rhythm. Lundblade, who carried the offense from deep in the opener, made one 3 in four tries and committed four turnovers. Tennessee's 4 of 17 night from 3 follows a 7 of 23 effort against Wofford, so the Vols are 11 of 40 from deep on the season.

What It Means

Two games in, Tennessee is 2-0 and the identity is obvious. The Vols will guard, rebound and live in the paint, and they have enough interior bodies in Brown, Rubin and Haralson to wear teams down over 40 minutes. A night like this one, where the outside shot never shows up and the team still wins by 23, is the kind of floor that makes Barnes teams dangerous in March.

The ceiling question is whether the shooting comes around. Tennessee did not cover the 28.5-point spread, and against the Michigan State team coming to Knoxville on Nov. 17, a 4 of 17 night from deep and that many turnovers would be a real problem. Getting Harris going is the obvious priority. Hill's emergence as a starter gives the Vols a second creator, and if Harris starts hitting, this offense gets a lot more comfortable.

For Radford, there is something to build on in Kee and Keel, and the Highlanders were competitive for long stretches against a ranked SEC team on the road. Their starters need to give them far more than 15 points, though, and the 17 turnovers were a gift Tennessee did not need. Radford falls to 0-3 and is now 0-4 all time against Tennessee.

Tennessee hosts Tennessee State on Friday, Nov. 13. Radford plays its home opener against Shenandoah on Saturday, Nov. 14.

For the full numbers, see the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab). For more on the Vols' opener, read our recap of Tennessee's 90-59 win over Wofford.

Sources: ESPN, Associated Press, Rocky Top Insider, Vols Wire, Radford Athletics. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Tennessee will not always get away with shooting like this. On Monday, the defense made sure it did not matter.

Photo: Tennessee Athletics (file photo).