cncchris33
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What a difference 2.5 weeks and 650 miles makes apparently. A complete polar opposite team showed up in Baton Rouge than the one that showed up in Knoxville last month, and I'm not talking about LSU. In Knoxville, this Tennessee team looked scared and intimidated, and certainly didn't look like they belonged in the same league as LSU. Last night was a whole different story. Tennessee brought the fight all night long, dictated tempo, controlled the boards, etc. In short, they didn't play scared and they didn't back down. Great to see from that group.
The Good...
1. JRich, I'm gonna miss him. He's the embodiment of everything good about college athletics. 20 pts, 5 rebs, 5 stls, 3 assts, and only 1 TO. Just a solid, solid performance from him.
2. Armani Moore shouldn't be able to outrebound guys like Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin. He just has that innate ability to overpower, out-hustle, and outsmart bigger players, and he does it consistently. 19 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts, 3 blks, and only 1 TO.
3. Tariq Owens...you saw a glimpse of his potential last night. 6 pts, 3 rebs, 1 blk in only 15 minutes. Give him a year in the strength program, and hopefully another 20-25 lbs, and he could be a real difference-maker. His potential is theough the roof IMO, and the one player I am most excited about if he can add the weight and strength. It's the only thing really holding him back.
4. Hubbs was solid again. 12 pts, 2 rebs, 1 asst, 1 TO. I'd like to see him contribute in other phases a little more.
5. Punter was also solid, but absent for periods I thought. Quietly had 10 pts, 3 rebs, 3 stls, 1 asst, and just 1 TO. Picked up his 4th foul early, but played smart enough to not get a 5th.
6. Reese led the team in rebs with 9, but didn't do much in terms of scoring. To his credit, he didn't try to do TOO much in terms of scoring either; differing rather to teammates who were playing wel offensively. He still has some WTH plays that make you want to wring his neck, but they are more tolerable in a 15-pt win.
7. When wad the last time that nearly the entire team contributed hea ily in a win like this? Everyone played an integral part outside of Mostella and Carmichael, who only played a combined 21 minutes. Very encouraging to see them all have a hand in the win.
8. We outrebounded LSU 35-29 (13-9 ORebs), which just shouldn't happen, and if I am Johnny Jones, I probably eat their face off in the locker room for letting a team as bereft of size and height as Tennessee is, just simply outwork them on the boards. Inexcusable when you have the #2 & 3 rebounders in the conference.
9. Along those same lines, how does Tennessee outscore LSU 36-20 in the paint?
The Bad...
1. Not a lot of bad to find in this game. Willie took a step back for me. Only 9 minutes played, and his only contribution was 3 fouls. He has played better of late, and the fouls were being reined in a bit, but last night was Willie from a month ago. He needs to play better than that.
2. Mostella I thought forced some shots that weren't necessarily bad looks, but we could have gotten better ones IMO. He is aggressive, amd I love that, but with maturity, he'll understand that even an open look isn't always the best look. Just freshman mistakes.
3. The officials really seemed to make a concerted effort to keep Tennessee off the FT line. Twice on the same possession, it looked as if both Armani Moore and Detrick Mostella were fouled in the act of shooting, and the officials gave Tennessee the ball out of bounds rather than shooting FTs. On the other end, some fouls called on Tennessee were so late they had cobwebs on them, and some continuation calls that put LSU on the line were VERY generous by comparison. I'm never one to complain about officials, esp in a 15-pt win, but my gosh. Final FT numbers: TN 4-7, LSU 18-24. Puzzling to say the least.
Bottom line...
LSU didn't play well, and probably overlooked Tennessee based on the result of the game in Knoxville, but Tennessee beat them last night. LSU didn't just lay down, and they didn't quit. We forced a lot of outside shots, and outside of Hornsby, they weren't efficient. Mickey and Martin average 32.5 pts and 19 rebs/gm, and we held them to a collective 25 pts and 13 rebs. We played to win, and probably snuck up on a team overconfident. Probably the most impressive win of the season IMO, on the road, against a very good team that we don't match up well with, and that demolished us at home just 18 days ago.
The Good...
1. JRich, I'm gonna miss him. He's the embodiment of everything good about college athletics. 20 pts, 5 rebs, 5 stls, 3 assts, and only 1 TO. Just a solid, solid performance from him.
2. Armani Moore shouldn't be able to outrebound guys like Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin. He just has that innate ability to overpower, out-hustle, and outsmart bigger players, and he does it consistently. 19 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts, 3 blks, and only 1 TO.
3. Tariq Owens...you saw a glimpse of his potential last night. 6 pts, 3 rebs, 1 blk in only 15 minutes. Give him a year in the strength program, and hopefully another 20-25 lbs, and he could be a real difference-maker. His potential is theough the roof IMO, and the one player I am most excited about if he can add the weight and strength. It's the only thing really holding him back.
4. Hubbs was solid again. 12 pts, 2 rebs, 1 asst, 1 TO. I'd like to see him contribute in other phases a little more.
5. Punter was also solid, but absent for periods I thought. Quietly had 10 pts, 3 rebs, 3 stls, 1 asst, and just 1 TO. Picked up his 4th foul early, but played smart enough to not get a 5th.
6. Reese led the team in rebs with 9, but didn't do much in terms of scoring. To his credit, he didn't try to do TOO much in terms of scoring either; differing rather to teammates who were playing wel offensively. He still has some WTH plays that make you want to wring his neck, but they are more tolerable in a 15-pt win.
7. When wad the last time that nearly the entire team contributed hea ily in a win like this? Everyone played an integral part outside of Mostella and Carmichael, who only played a combined 21 minutes. Very encouraging to see them all have a hand in the win.
8. We outrebounded LSU 35-29 (13-9 ORebs), which just shouldn't happen, and if I am Johnny Jones, I probably eat their face off in the locker room for letting a team as bereft of size and height as Tennessee is, just simply outwork them on the boards. Inexcusable when you have the #2 & 3 rebounders in the conference.
9. Along those same lines, how does Tennessee outscore LSU 36-20 in the paint?
The Bad...
1. Not a lot of bad to find in this game. Willie took a step back for me. Only 9 minutes played, and his only contribution was 3 fouls. He has played better of late, and the fouls were being reined in a bit, but last night was Willie from a month ago. He needs to play better than that.
2. Mostella I thought forced some shots that weren't necessarily bad looks, but we could have gotten better ones IMO. He is aggressive, amd I love that, but with maturity, he'll understand that even an open look isn't always the best look. Just freshman mistakes.
3. The officials really seemed to make a concerted effort to keep Tennessee off the FT line. Twice on the same possession, it looked as if both Armani Moore and Detrick Mostella were fouled in the act of shooting, and the officials gave Tennessee the ball out of bounds rather than shooting FTs. On the other end, some fouls called on Tennessee were so late they had cobwebs on them, and some continuation calls that put LSU on the line were VERY generous by comparison. I'm never one to complain about officials, esp in a 15-pt win, but my gosh. Final FT numbers: TN 4-7, LSU 18-24. Puzzling to say the least.
Bottom line...
LSU didn't play well, and probably overlooked Tennessee based on the result of the game in Knoxville, but Tennessee beat them last night. LSU didn't just lay down, and they didn't quit. We forced a lot of outside shots, and outside of Hornsby, they weren't efficient. Mickey and Martin average 32.5 pts and 19 rebs/gm, and we held them to a collective 25 pts and 13 rebs. We played to win, and probably snuck up on a team overconfident. Probably the most impressive win of the season IMO, on the road, against a very good team that we don't match up well with, and that demolished us at home just 18 days ago.
