1. Great all around showing, Florida isn’t a bad team by any stretch, probably a fringe NCAAT team and you absolutely owned them for the majority of 40 minutes, very impressive stuff. Would’ve been easy with the early start time to not come out ready to play but kudos to the players, they were ready, and shout out to the fans who made the visit to TBA…there was a lot more folks there than I expected there to be and they were into the game, great atmosphere considering the conditions.
2. Dalton Knecht continues his charge towards SEC POY along with consideration for All-American honors and putting himself into national player of the year conversations at this time. He is really playing at an elite offensive level right now and he’s picked his defense up to his credit to the point that Barnes feels ok playing him 35+ minutes. His teammates around him are doing a better and better job of looking for him and “learning” to play alongside him and it’s showing. He may never have as efficient of a 35+ point performance as last night, but having that offensive weapon on your roster can be a difference maker come March, and that’s not something we’ve had on the wing in a very long time.
3. In conference play Jonas Aidoo is currently averaging: 27mpg 15.5ppg 10rpg 2bpg 56%FG 73%FT…you will not find many P5 big men with those numbers, you have to look at the nations best like Zach Edey, Ryan Kalkbrenner, PJ Hall, Daron Holmet, Armando Bacot etc to find big men with similar numbers. Now obviously with that said I narrowed it down to conference play for Aidoo, but I’m just highlighting his strong recent play for us and how well he’s playing, if he can keep it up he will/should continue to gain more recognition both on a SEC level and national level. The other thing is he’s taking 12 shots a game, he’s giving us an inside presence which is something we’ve really lacked at times, and is benefiting us as a team from an offensive standpoint.
4. Jordan Gainey has played season low minutes now in 3 straight games, it would appear that the staff is starting to look at some other options. We saw Dillione get in first off the bench last night and we saw Estrella get some run as well, those look like the 2 candidates so pickup some of those minutes and Barnes hoping 1 of them steps forward. Your starting 5 plus Mashack and Awaka off the bench is a solid 7 and trusted by the staff, but you’re an injury away (even minor) from needing something from someone else, it will be worth watching how Gainey stays locked in and then how Dilione and Estrella continue to perform if/when given the opportunities.
5. Holding serve at home is going to be a huge aspect of how this regular season goes overall, as we’ve seen through 2 weeks of conference play around the country no win on the road is to be taken for granted. We talked before the start of SEC play how 7-2 would be a good start for the first 9 games, the Vols sit at 3-1 with 5 remaining, Bama/SC/LSU at home and Vandy/UK on the road finish out the first half of the state. Bama at home this Saturday is probably the 2nd toughest game of those remaining and so for that reason it’s a big one, if you can get a win then getting to that 7-2 mark set as a goal becomes much more attainable. Also worth mentioning that there’s a good chance we will be fighting with Alabama for seeding in both SECT & NCAAT, so having a head to head win against them would be nice to have as a feather in the cap.
GBO!!!
