Nothing that Yves Pons did in Tennessee’s 86-41 win over Lenoir-Rhyne Tuesday night took his teammates by surprise.

Pons was, well, being Pons.



“I try to tell people,” senior center Kyle Alexander said, “he’s probably one of the hardest workers on our team, up there with Admiral Schofield. It’s only a matter of time before he starts having all that happen.”



“He showed his athletic ability,” fourth-year head coach Rick Barnes said, “and on defense he's a guy that is getting better and better with that. We think he can be a difference maker.”



The difference he made in the season-opening win, given that it came against Division II competition, was seven points in 21 minutes played, grabbing five rebounds and blocking three shots. He was 3-for-4 from the field, grabbed three of the five rebounds on the offensive end and added an assist and a steal. He had one turnover.



“We like him guarding guards,” Barnes said, echoing what Pons said himself last week, after an exhibition win over Tusculum. “We like putting him out there and letting him guard the point guard a little bit.”



During a quiet freshman season, the native of Fuveau, France, never played more than 12 minutes in his 24 appearances. He played 10 or more minutes only three times. He never had more than three points or three rebounds in a game and never blocked more than one shot.



But on Tuesday, there was nothing quiet about his 21 minutes against Lenoir-Rhyne.



The 6-foot-6 sophomore wing was the first Tennessee player off the bench, checking in just over two minutes into the game, and had a bucket, a block and a board within his first four minutes.



It’s not just that he scored and blocked shots, either. It was how he did it.



He two-hand slammed a Jordan Bowden 3-point attempt that missed long. He drove to the rim, stopped, jumped off two feet and dunked while falling away from the rim and drawing a foul.



Instead of merely getting a piece of a blocked shot, he either went up high enough to spike the basketball like a volleyball or pinned the ball against the glass, once nearly hitting his head on the rim after trailing the play.



“His blocks were spectacular,” Barnes said. “He wants to do the right thing.”



Pons said last week, aside from the opposing point guard being his favorite defensive assignment, that he models his game after Patrick Beverly, known as an shut-down guard for the Los Angeles Clippers.



Sophomore forward Derrick Walker called him the team’s secret weapon. Bowden compared him to the Incredible Hulk.



The hype from his teammates continued after Tuesday’s game.



“Yves Pons is one of the more athletic guys I’ve ever met,” Alexander said. “He's so strong and he can move so well laterally and up the court. He has the ability to definitely get the crowd going.”



And he has the ability to do so much more, according to Barnes.



“I still think he can get out more in transition,” Barnes said, “and hit the open court for us. We can throw the ball to him and he can go get it.”



Tuesday, even against a lesser opponent, was a good start.



“A couple of those plays around the rim when he went up and scored it,” Barnes said, “I thought those were pretty impressive.”



Now it’s a question of how long he can keep sneaking up on opponents and how much he can adjust once he’s no longer Tennessee’s best kept secret.



The sixth-ranked Vols (1-0) are back at Thompson-Boling Arena against Louisiana Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (TV: SEC Network+).



“He can do what he can do,” Alexander said, “and as confidence starts to build in, I think that’s definitely going to help him. I don’t really think he’s a guy that thinks about it too much. He’s just a guy that goes out there and tries to do what he has to do.”



What he did in the season opener was plenty.



“Once he starts performing better, the coaches will trust him,” Alexander said. “Once he gets the coaches’ trust, confidence comes with that.



“It’s just, the sky is the limit.”

