bleedingTNorange
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1. Hey Auburn, Hey Bruce, GFY!!!! What a game, felt a bit like that was a tennesse vs. the refs and vs. the opponent type of game for awhile, we definitely weren’t getting the benefit of the whistle in the fist half and even early in the 2nd half it wasn’t good…our guys did not quit, they locked in and found a way to win this game, it feels damn good.
2. We weren’t great offensively, definitely could’ve been much better…too many turnovers, didn’t shoot all that well, but we crashed the boards to give ourselves 2nd chance points, we kept possessions alive and our effort was so good. I would’ve liked to see us less hesitant to let it fly from 3 when the looks were there and not try to back down Kessler, but hard to argue.
3. Defensively though, my freaking goodness, that 2nd half was borderline orgasmic (outside the final 2 minutes). The first half wasn’t bad, but the 2nd half we absolutely locked up and said you gotta score points with someone beside Smith. Now granted for Smith he still got his, something like 18/30 2nd half points, but that’s how you have to defend Auburn…that dude is gonna get his shot any time that he wants, we disrupted his flow enough and made him work enough and that was enough. Simply put, can their guards beat ours and the answer was no.
4. Sure I’m an advocate for Barnes, I love what he’s done here, but I don’t think I’ve ever singled him out postgame…how about a tip of the cap? Auburn has our number? The man wears his team out in January? He’s coasting to retirement? His teams never peak at the right time? This team is unequivocally playing its best ball of the year this past month, they are moving up metrics and seed lists and they’re doing so while navigating a season ending injury to a starter and incorporating freshman who one hasn’t played much and the other has hardly played at all…that final season of Grant & Admiral is tough to beat, but this one may be right up there, so much for retirement Rick.
5. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield…he got exposed some tonight sure, but without him we quite possibly lose, helluva an effort young man. His ORB were huge, he also had some possessions where he gave Jabari hell, and that is not something I expected at all leading up to this game. Yes Jabari got him some, but the point/fact is it wasn’t every time, and BHH made him work, the potential is there and we are starting to see is at just the right time.
6. Ok big picture, ooooh I’m giddy….we sit at 21-7(12-4), we said going into this final stretch 2-1 would be a solid finish, and it would be, but now you’ve changed the outlook and momentum a bit. Zero questions asked you should beat Georgia, which sets up a monumental game against Arkansas here in Knoxville…with what has gone on around us it’s very much possible Tennessee is getting talked about as a 2 seed, at worst a 3 seed, win against Georgia and that’s hold serve….which again leads into Saturday’s game against Arkansas. We locked down a double bye with todays win, so realistically outside of losing to Georgia (please god no), it’s hard to see us as worse than a 4 seed, but a 2/3 sounds so much better
GBO!!!
2. We weren’t great offensively, definitely could’ve been much better…too many turnovers, didn’t shoot all that well, but we crashed the boards to give ourselves 2nd chance points, we kept possessions alive and our effort was so good. I would’ve liked to see us less hesitant to let it fly from 3 when the looks were there and not try to back down Kessler, but hard to argue.
3. Defensively though, my freaking goodness, that 2nd half was borderline orgasmic (outside the final 2 minutes). The first half wasn’t bad, but the 2nd half we absolutely locked up and said you gotta score points with someone beside Smith. Now granted for Smith he still got his, something like 18/30 2nd half points, but that’s how you have to defend Auburn…that dude is gonna get his shot any time that he wants, we disrupted his flow enough and made him work enough and that was enough. Simply put, can their guards beat ours and the answer was no.
4. Sure I’m an advocate for Barnes, I love what he’s done here, but I don’t think I’ve ever singled him out postgame…how about a tip of the cap? Auburn has our number? The man wears his team out in January? He’s coasting to retirement? His teams never peak at the right time? This team is unequivocally playing its best ball of the year this past month, they are moving up metrics and seed lists and they’re doing so while navigating a season ending injury to a starter and incorporating freshman who one hasn’t played much and the other has hardly played at all…that final season of Grant & Admiral is tough to beat, but this one may be right up there, so much for retirement Rick.
5. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield…he got exposed some tonight sure, but without him we quite possibly lose, helluva an effort young man. His ORB were huge, he also had some possessions where he gave Jabari hell, and that is not something I expected at all leading up to this game. Yes Jabari got him some, but the point/fact is it wasn’t every time, and BHH made him work, the potential is there and we are starting to see is at just the right time.
6. Ok big picture, ooooh I’m giddy….we sit at 21-7(12-4), we said going into this final stretch 2-1 would be a solid finish, and it would be, but now you’ve changed the outlook and momentum a bit. Zero questions asked you should beat Georgia, which sets up a monumental game against Arkansas here in Knoxville…with what has gone on around us it’s very much possible Tennessee is getting talked about as a 2 seed, at worst a 3 seed, win against Georgia and that’s hold serve….which again leads into Saturday’s game against Arkansas. We locked down a double bye with todays win, so realistically outside of losing to Georgia (please god no), it’s hard to see us as worse than a 4 seed, but a 2/3 sounds so much better
GBO!!!
