Tennessee vs Missouri: 5 storylines for SEC opener between ranked foes

Dru Smith versus Victor Bailey

As the Volunteers’ leading scorer, Victor Bailey (13.2 ppg) needs to score, and as the Tigers’ best on-ball defender Dru Smith needs to stop him. This is particularly interesting when one considers how important it is for Bailey to prevent Smith from getting the ball to Tilmon on the block. This puts Bailey in the position to have a lot of responsibility on the offensive and defensive end, which inherently makes each more difficult.

Whereas, if Dru Smith (13.2 ppg) is able to make Tilmon the number scoring option, Smith will not have to worry about expending so much energy trying to get pesky baskets. Thus, allowing him to use his energy in stopping Bailey.

Versus Illinois on Dec.12, 2020, Dru Smith played 39 minutes in order to match-up versus Ayo Dosunmu who logged 38 minutes. In that game, Dosunmu did score 36 points, but Smith led the way with Pinson as they both scored 17 points and Smith had two steals. One of the steals was off of Dosunmu when the Tigers were up by two with 1:27 left in the game.

With Pons on the court, Smith will not be the top defensive player in the game, but he will be for the Tigers and will be taking on the most responsibility. The volunteers do have three other double-digit scorers as options, but if Smith can take pride in shutting down the Volunteers’ top scorer it will be his greatest contribution.