BTO’s Georgia Southern Postgame Report

[bleedingTNorange]

1. A tale of 2 halves, the Vols looked very much like what you’d expect in the first half against an inferior opponent, take a 49-21 lead into the half and well on their way to a dominating victory. Unfortunately, as is the case often in those cases, they didn’t come out of the 2nd half with the same intensity and sputtered most of the half on their way to a 18 point win. If the Vols had struggled that way all game and pulled away late to win by 18 I would be worried, but this just seemed like a classic case of a team playing as they should and then losing interest late, not an excuse just a very common practice.

2. Jonas Aidoo was by far the brightest spot of the evening, and as I mentioned at the time going against Edey, Dickinson & Bacot back-back-back could prove as a benefit for him down the road. Since facing Edey & Dickinson in Maui, so 4 game sample size, Aidoo is averaging 26.5mpg 18.3ppg 7.5rpg 1.5bpg 62.5%2ptFG 50%3ptFG 73.6%FT. Now I don’t think those numbers are likely sustainable against elite competition, but there’s no reason he shouldn’t continue gaining confidence and be a legitimate 13-14ppg a night big man for us. He has to continue to get stronger as he gets moved too easily on both ends, but he has the makeup and things that can’t be taught of someone who will start catching the eye of NBA folks if his recent play continues.

3. I’m not gonna go too much into this game, we played 11 guys decent minutes, some odd lineup combos, as mentioned before a terrible team sandwiched in between HM games that the team in likely much more excited for. I would’ve preferred they come out of the 2nd half the same way so we could’ve seen more of the young guys, but is what it is. I thought Dilione again showed some nice flashes and hopefully he can work his way into the flow. That’s not easy to do mid season but he brings something different from Zakai and he can also play along side of Zakai as well as another ball handler option.

4. Given our SOS I have no issues playing a terrible team and stacking up some W’s, that’s exactly what this team needed/needs to do and they did just that. They move to 7-3 and a 3 game winning streak heading into a good matchup against NCST, as we’ve talked about you win that one and no reason you shouldn’t finish OOC slate at 10-3, which leaves you in a good spot entering SEC play. And as I’ve mentioned our SEC slate opens up pretty soft as well so there’s a good chance to continue building this win streak, stacking wins on the resume, and moving up the rankings.



GBO!!!

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Something I'd like to also point out as a positive but also a reason for the tale of 2 halves.

JJJ - 19 minutes (the bulk in the 1st half)
Santiago - 24 minutes (would have sat most the 2nd half, but was reinserted after the under 8 in the 2nd half to stop the run that had cut it to 13)

Cade Phillips - 12 minutes
Cameron Carr - 10 minutes
Freddie Dilione - 8 minutes

All 3 of those guys have been averaging under 8 minutes per game on the season.

 

[walkenvol]

The good - obviously Aidoo

The encouraging - Dilione & Carr

The concerning - Vescovi still not finding his normal 3 point stroke

The ugly - Zeigler’s turnovers (I think he had more than 4) and sloppy play. Awaka fumbling the ball away repeatedly on both offense and rebounding. He continues to search for consistency and we need solid 15-20 minutes from him nightly

 

[MoCo_Vol]

I still think part of Santi's 3 point stroke issues are from

1. missing almost 2 weeks of practice
2. new role as the main defender on the other team's best perimeter scorer, DK isn't good enough to do it JJJ is playing the 4 last season we saw Mashack or JJJ usually draw this assignment which gave Santi more energy on offense

 

[VolunteerCeltic]

I feel like this team is closer to what we saw against Illinois as to what we saw last night. It is hard for teams to stay focused when they have a team destroyed in the first half. Aidoo's improvement will pay dividends all season!

 

[Halph66]

I do like CRB's message about the team not respecting themselves. Hopefully the message struck a nerve with the players. They have the ability to make some noise this year, but they have to stay focused. I agree it is difficult to that when you are playing an 0-9 team. Aidoo was in beast mode last night. It was nice to see. GBO!

 

[GoBigOrange2008]

It seemed to me that a lot of their rebounds were long off three point shots and most of loose balls went their way.

 

[b_gann]

The good - obviously Aidoo

The encouraging - Dilione & Carr

The concerning - Vescovi still not finding his normal 3 point stroke

The ugly - Zeigler’s turnovers (I think he had more than 4) and sloppy play. Awaka fumbling the ball away repeatedly on both offense and rebounding. He continues to search for consistency and we need solid 15-20 minutes from him nightly

Freddie moving a lot better for sure. Noticed he wasn't boxing out too hard though. I'm a Carr fan. It's just hard to get him minutes between the wings we already have.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

There is not a lot to take away from this game other than the lack of effort by everyone not named Jonas Aidoo in the 2nd half was upsetting. Getting beat by 10 in the 2nd half to an 0-10 team and giving up 16 offensive rebounds is an effort thing. Just bad.

Other than that the biggest concern for me with this team is 3-point shooting. I just thought we’d be a lot better with that on this team. 25% last night and now 32.5% through 10 games on the year.

Thats good for 222nd in the nation. We have to improve that. So many weapons on this team that there really isn’t any reason we should be that bad with our perimeter game.

 

[Redheads]

1. A tale of 2 halves, the Vols looked very much like what you’d expect in the first half against an inferior opponent, take a 49-21 lead into the half and well on their way to a dominating victory. Unfortunately, as is the case often in those cases, they didn’t come out of the 2nd half with the same intensity and sputtered most of the half on their way to a 18 point win. If the Vols had struggled that way all game and pulled away late to win by 18 I would be worried, but this just seemed like a classic case of a team playing as they should and then losing interest late, not an excuse just a very common practice.

2. Jonas Aidoo was by far the brightest spot of the evening, and as I mentioned at the time going against Edey, Dickinson & Bacot back-back-back could prove as a benefit for him down the road. Since facing Edey & Dickinson in Maui, so 4 game sample size, Aidoo is averaging 26.5mpg 18.3ppg 7.5rpg 1.5bpg 62.5%2ptFG 50%3ptFG 73.6%FT. Now I don’t think those numbers are likely sustainable against elite competition, but there’s no reason he shouldn’t continue gaining confidence and be a legitimate 13-14ppg a night big man for us. He has to continue to get stronger as he gets moved too easily on both ends, but he has the makeup and things that can’t be taught of someone who will start catching the eye of NBA folks if his recent play continues.

3. I’m not gonna go too much into this game, we played 11 guys decent minutes, some odd lineup combos, as mentioned before a terrible team sandwiched in between HM games that the team in likely much more excited for. I would’ve preferred they come out of the 2nd half the same way so we could’ve seen more of the young guys, but is what it is. I thought Dilione again showed some nice flashes and hopefully he can work his way into the flow. That’s not easy to do mid season but he brings something different from Zakai and he can also play along side of Zakai as well as another ball handler option.

4. Given our SOS I have no issues playing a terrible team and stacking up some W’s, that’s exactly what this team needed/needs to do and they did just that. They move to 7-3 and a 3 game winning streak heading into a good matchup against NCST, as we’ve talked about you win that one and no reason you shouldn’t finish OOC slate at 10-3, which leaves you in a good spot entering SEC play. And as I’ve mentioned our SEC slate opens up pretty soft as well so there’s a good chance to continue building this win streak, stacking wins on the resume, and moving up the rankings.



GBO!!!

Went to the game last night. Agree with most of your assessment. One thing I would say is that I think coach wanted to use this game to work on our inside game, hence Aidoo’s big night. I hope we learned a lot. A bunch of the turnovers were from trying to get it inside. We’re still learning to meet the pass and not let guys reach around to get a deflection or steal. I also think the referees were ready for Christmas break and refused to call fouls on guys defending a pass to the post. We got lots of stuff on tape to use as teaching points about getting the ball to the post. Should help us later.

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

Went to the game last night. Agree with most of your assessment. One thing I would say is that I think coach wanted to use this game to work on our inside game, hence Aidoo’s big night. I hope we learned a lot. A bunch of the turnovers were from trying to get it inside. We’re still learning to meet the pass and not let guys reach around to get a deflection or steal. I also think the referees were ready for Christmas break and refused to call fouls on guys defending a pass to the post. We got lots of stuff on tape to use as teaching points about getting the ball to the post. Should help us later.

THIS!
I think you use these games to work on stuff that you are not good at ... and find out how to get better.
You see these tale of two halfs in basketball and football. It is 'focus.' Focus is hard to maintain.
We all want to stay focused, but if it was that easy - nobody would be commenting on the lack of it. Coaches use it as a teaching point.
Finally, I do not want us to peak too early ... so I am pleased with one half of good basketball ... gives us something to work on.

My wants:
... Aidoo and Awaka to get stronger and MORE physical.
... Awaka to improve his hand strength.
... all of the bigs to be more authoritative at the rim and less finesse shooting. Just jam it and make them foul you.

@BTO .... great evaluation!!!

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Went to the game last night. Agree with most of your assessment. One thing I would say is that I think coach wanted to use this game to work on our inside game, hence Aidoo’s big night. I hope we learned a lot. A bunch of the turnovers were from trying to get it inside. We’re still learning to meet the pass and not let guys reach around to get a deflection or steal. I also think the referees were ready for Christmas break and refused to call fouls on guys defending a pass to the post. We got lots of stuff on tape to use as teaching points about getting the ball to the post. Should help us later.

Big time, I noticed that especially in the 2nd half and to be fair it wasn't just against us. The officials really seemed disinterested in slowing the game down. Was one of our quickest games start to finish that I can recall watching in a long time.

 

[Redheads]

Went to the game last night. Agree with most of your assessment. One thing I would say is that I think coach wanted to use this game to work on our inside game, hence Aidoo’s big night. I hope we learned a lot. A bunch of the turnovers were from trying to get it inside. We’re still learning to meet the pass and not let guys reach around to get a deflection or steal. I also think the referees were ready for Christmas break and refused to call fouls on guys defending a pass to the post. We got lots of stuff on tape to use as teaching points about getting the ball to the post. Should help us later.

On another note, if you haven’t seen NC state play yet, look for DJBurns. Came to UT and redshirted. Word was that he couldn’t get in shape. He’s totally unrecognizable now. He might weigh 350 now. No way that was ever going to work in Barnes‘ system. I wish him well (not against us). He shows a lot of skill but is really limited by conditioning and ends up picking up a lot of fouls.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

The good - obviously Aidoo

The encouraging - Dilione & Carr

The concerning - Vescovi still not finding his normal 3 point stroke

The ugly - Zeigler’s turnovers (I think he had more than 4) and sloppy play. Awaka fumbling the ball away repeatedly on both offense and rebounding. He continues to search for consistency and we need solid 15-20 minutes from him nightly

The sad - DJ Waldo Jefferson
This year: 1 game (TN Tech), 3 points (1/1 3s), 2 Rs, 1 PF, 1 TO

 

[PandamoniumReigns]

BTO's point #4 regarding a somewhat soft beginning to SEC play means the back half of SEC play will be a bit tougher. These boards are gonna lose it if TN loses 3of 5 games or so during that stretch. The 'Fire Barnes' crowd will be out in force

 

[StoneokeyVol]

I think Ole Miss is going to be a tough game.

 

[GiveHim6InSC]

It seemed to me that a lot of their rebounds were long off three point shots and most of loose balls went their way.

Also seemed at times like the Vols were careless with the ball and made unnecessary passes. Looked like street ball instead of a well-oiled machine. Part of that was probably the opponent

 

[Volfan1000]

1. A tale of 2 halves, the Vols looked very much like what you’d expect in the first half against an inferior opponent, take a 49-21 lead into the half and well on their way to a dominating victory. Unfortunately, as is the case often in those cases, they didn’t come out of the 2nd half with the same intensity and sputtered most of the half on their way to a 18 point win. If the Vols had struggled that way all game and pulled away late to win by 18 I would be worried, but this just seemed like a classic case of a team playing as they should and then losing interest late, not an excuse just a very common practice.

2. Jonas Aidoo was by far the brightest spot of the evening, and as I mentioned at the time going against Edey, Dickinson & Bacot back-back-back could prove as a benefit for him down the road. Since facing Edey & Dickinson in Maui, so 4 game sample size, Aidoo is averaging 26.5mpg 18.3ppg 7.5rpg 1.5bpg 62.5%2ptFG 50%3ptFG 73.6%FT. Now I don’t think those numbers are likely sustainable against elite competition, but there’s no reason he shouldn’t continue gaining confidence and be a legitimate 13-14ppg a night big man for us. He has to continue to get stronger as he gets moved too easily on both ends, but he has the makeup and things that can’t be taught of someone who will start catching the eye of NBA folks if his recent play continues.

3. I’m not gonna go too much into this game, we played 11 guys decent minutes, some odd lineup combos, as mentioned before a terrible team sandwiched in between HM games that the team in likely much more excited for. I would’ve preferred they come out of the 2nd half the same way so we could’ve seen more of the young guys, but is what it is. I thought Dilione again showed some nice flashes and hopefully he can work his way into the flow. That’s not easy to do mid season but he brings something different from Zakai and he can also play along side of Zakai as well as another ball handler option.

4. Given our SOS I have no issues playing a terrible team and stacking up some W’s, that’s exactly what this team needed/needs to do and they did just that. They move to 7-3 and a 3 game winning streak heading into a good matchup against NCST, as we’ve talked about you win that one and no reason you shouldn’t finish OOC slate at 10-3, which leaves you in a good spot entering SEC play. And as I’ve mentioned our SEC slate opens up pretty soft as well so there’s a good chance to continue building this win streak, stacking wins on the resume, and moving up the rankings.



GBO!!!

Solid write up and the emergence of Aidoo as an interior option will give Gainey, Knecht and Vescovi better looks on the offensive end and Awaka is becoming a rebounding machine in the minutes that he is getting.

 

[miket4god]

I think Ole Miss is going to be a tough game.

Beard may be a trash person, but he can coach

 

[cncchris33]

Freddie moving a lot better for sure. Noticed he wasn't boxing out too hard though. I'm a Carr fan. It's just hard to get him minutes between the wings we already have.

I'm still amazed at how bad of a defender Dilione is. Unless that improves, which he's been there for almost a year, now, he better hope he has Knecht-level scoring ability, or he will never consistently see the floor. Barnes must love his offensive potential for him to be seeing the floor as much as he is, which obviously isn't a ton.

 

[oldaaucoach]

There is not a lot to take away from this game other than the lack of effort by everyone not named Jonas Aidoo in the 2nd half was upsetting. Getting beat by 10 in the 2nd half to an 0-10 team and giving up 16 offensive rebounds is an effort thing. Just bad.

Other than that the biggest concern for me with this team is 3-point shooting. I just thought we’d be a lot better with that on this team. 25% last night and now 32.5% through 10 games on the year.

Thats good for 222nd in the nation. We have to improve that. So many weapons on this team that there really isn’t any reason we should be that bad with our perimeter game.

Yes, my concern is 3 point shooting at both ends. I too expected the Vols to have a much higher shooting % but I am also concerned that opponents are getting so many wide open looks behind the arc. It still looks like they are over-doing their help defense so they don't have enough time to close out properly. Especially against Georgia Southern which isn't going to beat you on the inside. Not sure how many points per game we gave up last year but it feels like we are giving up alot more ppg this year.

 

[cardvolfan]

I'm still amazed at how bad of a defender Dilione is. Unless that improves, which he's been there for almost a year, now, he better hope he has Knecht-level scoring ability, or he will never consistently see the floor. Barnes must love his offensive potential for him to be seeing the floor as much as he is, which obviously isn't a ton.

Interestingly, Barnes did throw a compliment Freddie’s way about his defense after the game.

 

[cncchris33]

Interestingly, Barnes did throw a compliment Freddie’s way about his defense after the game.

Really? That's surprising. Maybe it was motivation. Maybe even though it wasn't great it was improvement. I'm just surprised that he's not any better. It's really in the number of low percentage risks he takes that leave his teammates out to dry having to help on his man.

 

[RavinDave]

BTO's point #4 regarding a somewhat soft beginning to SEC play means the back half of SEC play will be a bit tougher. These boards are gonna lose it if TN loses 3of 5 games or so during that stretch. The 'Fire Barnes' crowd will be out in force

In that scenario, one might say pandemonium reigns.

 

[cardvolfan]

Really? That's surprising. Maybe it was motivation. Maybe even though it wasn't great it was improvement. I'm just surprised that he's not any better. It's really in the number of low percentage risks he takes that leave his teammates out to dry having to help on his man.

I think Barnes really likes the kid. He will do his best to bring out the defense. On another note, he sounds like a great, respectful kid. Dilione’s post game interview was very good last night.