BTO’s Mississippi State Postgame Report

[bleedingTNorange]

1. You couldn’t have asked for a better showing from the Vols tonight, not only did the defense once again look elite but the offense looked better than it has all season and absolutely torched what is a projected NCAAT team. The Vols were firing on all cylinders and while that performance will be nearly impossible to duplicate away from Knoxville it gives a glimpse as to what this team of capable of imo.

2. I know the 3pt shooting is the sexy thing and I’ll talk about it, but the 2pt shooting is what really has me giddy. MSST going into this game ranked 13th nationally in 2pt defense holding opponents to 42.3%, Tennessee was among the nations worst at 2pt% offensively shooting just 48.5%, this on paper looked like a bad matchup for the Vols. However they went 24-31 for 77.4% which is an astronomical number that given the number of attempts you would very rarely ever see matched. Our post made strong moves to the basket, Nkamhoua obviously converted on a lot of his jumpers as did Phillips, again you can’t expect that every night but not missing the bunnies close to the room was great to see.

3. The 3pt shooting was great to see, Vescovi continues his hot shooting 12-20 in his last 3 games for 60% from deep. Key has actually shot pretty well from 3 but he looked more assertive and confident tonight and that’s good to see, Zeigler finding his stroke would be nice as he gets some open looks each game and then obviously JJJ being back out there (more on that in a minute) and going 2-2 from 3 was great to see as well. This team has to shoot a lot of 3’s given their makeup and it should be a strength, I mentioned weeks ago the numbers had to improve and they slowly have, tonight was obviously another good step in that direction.

4. Speaking of offense, heading into tonight game per KenPom Tennessee ranked 54th nationally in offensive efficiency at 108.6, after tonight’s result we made a massive jump up to 36th nationally and the efficiency number moving to 110.2, fwiw the #1 defense stayed #1 and actually climbed from 80.7 to 80.5…this combination of things moved us from #3 pre game and 2.97 behind #1 Houston to #2 in KenPom and 1.22 behind #1 Houston. This will obviously be something I continue to monitor as this can’t be a one off for the offense, it has to continue to show up, obviously not necessarily to this level, but better than it has been.

5. Welcome back JJJ, 17m 8pts 4ast, didn’t look hobbled at all out there and was great to see him out there. Maybe his energy gave some extra boost which caused the hot start, idk, but was great to have him out there and really showcased the depth that this team can have going forward if he can manage to stay healthy. We played more small ball tonight than we have much of the season which obviously having him allows us to do, and he was his usual disruptive self playing defense as well. If he can manage to stay healthy and work himself up to being able to give 25mpg and counted on night in and night out that might be just what the doctor ordered for this team to take that next step.

6. I could single out just about everyone tonight and I don’t want to do that so just want to mention our 5 men…I thought Dane made a great comment when he said that other teams may have a better 5 man but there are few who will have better 5 men. Our depth at that position is really impressive and while not 1 of them is a star right now and might disappear from night to night having Plavsic/Aidoo/Awaka/Nkamhoua to throw at people is a luxury. Plavsic had himself a nice bounce back game, Aidoo was the cold one tonight but still rebounded well, Awaka took another step it appeared tonight and his offensive game is light years ahead of what folks expected it to be, and Nkamhoua looked good yet again for us. We need each of those guys to just own their roles and bring it, there likely will be nights they each are called upon and will be needed.

7. Starting league play 2-0 is just what we hoped for, a road trip to South Carolina (likely worst team in the league) as likely double digit favorites awaits us, then home against a bad Vandy team. We talked about needing to take advantage of the early schedule and start out hot and hit the 4-0 mark, that obviously is very much in play as we arguably won the 2 toughest of those 4 already. This schedule really sets up favorable, at least as of today, what is thought to be the 2nd best team in the league Alabama we only play once and it’s at home. 3rd best team per KenPom is Arkansas and we only play them once and it’s at home. Kentucky & Auburn who are 4&5 right now we get home and home with. Texas is our B12 draw and that game is at home and continues to look more and more winnable as well. Protect the home court and beat bottom half of league teams on the road and we will be sitting pretty. Barttorvik has updated and now has us finishing 27-4(16-2), so closing 15-2 down the stretch and beating Texas. I’m not sure I see that, although I’m more bought in to 26-5 than I was a week ago, but if Tennessee does manage to go 27-4 there’s a very real chance they are looking at their first ever 1 seed, but let’s pump the brakes, build on this outing, and go get us a road win in league play on Saturday.


GBO!!!

 

[PandamoniumReigns]

Nicely said BTO.

Awaka is quickly becoming my favorite player

 

[walkenvol]

I especially agree on #6 as the cumulative production from the 5 is good and improving. Competition is the lifeblood of athletics. Don’t play hard and smart, then sit down and the next guy will get a chance. Hopefully those 4 push each other to new heights!

 

[cncchris33]

Not sure I'd call Aidoo "the cold one tonight", as he only attempted 2 shots, going 1-2. He only played 14 minutes and grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. I realize you probably just meant that he was the guy who contrivuted the least, offensively, but he contributed everywhere else.

Nkamhoua must have done all of his scoring early, as I tuned in around the 9:00 mark of the first half, and I'm not sure I saw him score, though I was only partially paying attention die to the score. Seeing him with 0 rebounds (despite limited minutes) is certainly concerning as that has been the area where he's drawn the ire of most.

Awaka is a poor man's Oscar Tshiebwe. I'm going to plant my flag on that hill. He's not there, yet, but he has that potential if he continues to develop his offensive game and get into better shape. In two years, he's gonna mess around and hover at the All-SEC level, I think.

 

[The Dog]

Not sure I'd call Aidoo "the cold one tonight", as he only attempted 2 shots, going 1-2. He only played 14 minutes and grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. I realize you probably just meant that he was the guy who contrivuted the least, offensively, but he contributed everywhere else.

Nkamhoua must have done all of his scoring early, as I tuned in around the 9:00 mark of the first half, and I'm not sure I saw him score, though I was only partially paying attention die to the score. Seeing him with 0 rebounds (despite limited minutes) is certainly concerning as that has been the area where he's drawn the ire of most.

Awaka is a poor man's Oscar Tshiebwe. I'm going to plant my flag on that hill. He's not there, yet, but he has that potential if he continues to develop his offensive game and get into better shape. In two years, he's gonna mess around and hover at the All-SEC level, I think.

This team is deep, even next year's team will be deep. There will be no drop off, another 3 years of being a NCAA Tournament . Plus Awaka is going to win the SEC rebounding title, soon

 

[cncchris33]

A couple other things, totally agree on us not missing the bunnies. We have to miss more shots at the rim than any high-major team in college basketball (it feels like). Tonight, we were super solid.

Even though we gave up 40-ish% from the field, how many tough shots did MSU hit with a guy in his face? Five? Six? It just felt like we defended a lot of those well and they just made tough shots.

 

[The Dog]

A couple other things, totally agree on us not missing the bunnies. We have to miss more shots at the rim than any high-major team in college basketball (it feels like). Tonight, we were super solid.

Even though we gave up 40-ish% from the field, how many tough shots did MSU hit with a guy in his face? Five? Six? It just felt like we defended a lot of those well and they just made tough shots.

Right. I had MSU under 55 and they hit contested jumper after contested jumper in the last 10 minutes. Made me sick, but didn't score another point after their 53rd with about 3 minutes to go

 

[youcancallmeAl]

A couple other things, totally agree on us not missing the bunnies. We have to miss more shots at the rim than any high-major team in college basketball (it feels like). Tonight, we were super solid.

Even though we gave up 40-ish% from the field, how many tough shots did MSU hit with a guy in his face? Five? Six? It just felt like we defended a lot of those well and they just made tough shots.

I thought the same thing while I watched. They kept hitting very difficult, well defended shots. And their inside guy was good,too.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Not sure I'd call Aidoo "the cold one tonight", as he only attempted 2 shots, going 1-2. He only played 14 minutes and grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. I realize you probably just meant that he was the guy who contrivuted the least, offensively, but he contributed everywhere else.

Nkamhoua must have done all of his scoring early, as I tuned in around the 9:00 mark of the first half, and I'm not sure I saw him score, though I was only partially paying attention die to the score. Seeing him with 0 rebounds (despite limited minutes) is certainly concerning as that has been the area where he's drawn the ire of most.

Awaka is a poor man's Oscar Tshiebwe. I'm going to plant my flag on that hill. He's not there, yet, but he has that potential if he continues to develop his offensive game and get into better shape. In two years, he's gonna mess around and hover at the All-SEC level, I think.

Yea, just meant he was least productive…didn’t think he played well defensively either, thought Smith really pushed him around a few times tonight. Had a couple possessions solid defensively but just thought overall the other 3 posts played better overall. Not a knock as I had been singing his praises, just trying to be fair and saying I thought others played better tonight…but that speaks more to our quality depth than him playing bad.

Nkamhoua had a nice first half, really showed off his back to the basket mid range a few times, absolutely needed to rebound better, thought his defense in the post was solid though.

Agree on Awaka, not sure he’ll be able to do it for 32mpg, I have no reason to say he can’t get there though, but man he just continues to impress. His patience on the ORB where he drew the foul was such a veteran move, then the drop step strong move to his left was a move not many guys make, and then a running catch down the lane finish layup off the glass over someone was most impressive imo. Dude is just scratching the surface and is only going to get better.

 

[thunder5]

I always love these reports…thanks for doing them!

 

[honda50r]

Awake reminds me of Jarnell Stokes

 

[TrippieRedd]

Always nice to find recruiting gems. ZZ and Awaka. Keep finding those players RB!

Fair to say both have been studs up to this point.

 

[cardvolfan]

Yea, just meant he was least productive…didn’t think he played well defensively either, thought Smith really pushed him around a few times tonight. Had a couple possessions solid defensively but just thought overall the other 3 posts played better overall. Not a knock as I had been singing his praises, just trying to be fair and saying I thought others played better tonight…but that speaks more to our quality depth than him playing bad.

Nkamhoua had a nice first half, really showed off his back to the basket mid range a few times, absolutely needed to rebound better, thought his defense in the post was solid though.

Agree on Awaka, not sure he’ll be able to do it for 32mpg, I have no reason to say he can’t get there though, but man he just continues to impress. His patience on the ORB where he drew the foul was such a veteran move, then the drop step strong move to his left was a move not many guys make, and then a running catch down the lane finish layup off the glass over someone was most impressive imo. Dude is just scratching the surface and is only going to get better.

On two foul calls Aidoo picked up defending Tolu, those were initiated by contact by the offensive player. Aidoo was well-positioned, not moving, and hands straight up with his feet outside the arc. Smith faked left, then rolled to his right ducking his shoulder and head squarely into Aidoo. On both those fouls, Barnes ate the official up with some heat.

 

[CAVPUT]

"27-4"...."a 1 seed"...

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Great night for the O. Our ball movement, pass selection and spacing were the best I’ve seen from us this season. JJJ at the 4, provides a quality inside out option that creates shooting space we don’t have without him. Both wings and point got better three looks due to good ball movement and quality pass selection. This offense can be good if it doesn’t rely on Santi hunting all the time. Phillips had space to operate and score last night due to strong play from the fives. When the fives don’t create Phillips isn’t strong enough to create his own space to score. When the fives score and draw attention, he can operate, score, get fouled, and even drift to open spots. Not all of our improvement is the return of JJJ, but he helped flow. ZZ’s assist game is really improving. Many of his assists were 1 to 5 passes by creating defensive shifts. He’s really playing what he’s given. That’s a great sign of PG maturity. I’m sure we’ll have ups and downs, but this team has a balanced deep rotation, top defense and serious potential to continue to grow on offense. I hope we can stay healthy and keep growing the young players. This team could be built to go far.

 

[Dallasbowlin]

This was awesome to see. Hopefully, that continues this morning. The next day is key for swelling.

 

[NighthawkVol]

"but the 2pt shooting is what really has me giddy."

Exactly. This is what we need to get further in March than we did last year. When we went cold from outside against Michigan, there was no answer inside. This year, we have that...and it will open up the outside.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Our 3pt defense is on an insane level right now, currently holding opponents to 21.2% from 3…my quick search tells me that would be the best number in the 23 years team rankings has that stat available for. Most years the #1 team is around 27%-28%, 21% is on another level.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

"but the 2pt shooting is what really has me giddy."

Exactly. This is what we need to get further in March than we did last year. When we went cold from outside against Michigan, there was no answer inside. This year, we have that...and it will open up the outside.

TBD, last night we did but prior to that we have not.

 

[NighthawkVol]

TBD, last night we did but prior to that we have not.

I should say, we should have that. We didn't have Nkomhou at the end of last year, we didn't have Awaka, and Aidoo wasn't as developed. So by default, we should have much more inside presence in March of 2023 than March of 2022. But you're right, they need to keep proving it.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Posted this after AP game in my postgame report…

6. So what do we need to do offensively to be better? Sounds overly simplistic, but shoot better, last night was a great start but obviously need more than just 1 game. Going into last nights game we were at 40.4%fg which ranks 335th, 46.5%2ptfg which ranks 313th, and 32.3% 3ptfg which ranks 263rd. Last year those percentages were 43.4%, 48.5% and 36%, a saving grace so far this year has been we are one of the very best ORB teams in the country so we are getting extra looks, if we could continue to do that while also shooting better percentages at all 3 spots our offensive efficiency would definitely start to climb. We are also doing a really good job getting to the line, and while we are better than average at the free throw line I think it could still be a bit better, currently 72.6% for 104th overall. 50%fg 40%3ptfg 75%FT is a lofty game by game goal, but something close to that is what we are looking for, and if we do that while continuing to pull down offensive rebounds at a high rate and take care of the ball limiting turnovers then we will be in pretty good shape.

After last nights game…
43.6%FG ranks #238th
50.3%2ptfg ranks #215th
33.9%3ptfg ranks #183rd
71.7%FT ranks #142nd

 

[walkenvol]

Awake reminds me of Jarnell Stokes

Stokes had about 50 lbs on Awaka IIRC

 

[cardvolfan]

Our 3pt defense is on an insane level right now, currently holding opponents to 21.2% from 3…my quick search tells me that would be the best number in the 23 years team rankings has that stat available for. Most years the #1 team is around 27%-28%, 21% is on another level.

It’s an insane number. I can’t imagine we don’t migrate up a decent bit because sheer luck has a way of evening things out. But, we are elite in that regard, no doubt. No reason why we can’t hold opponents to roughly 30% on average the rest of the way and finish around 25-26%, which is still elite.

 

[VoltillweFall]

Get Jonas On the Peanut Butter!! He just needs strength, his biggest weakness

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I'm not sure how this season will play out. Conference play is tough, and even really good teams are prone to dropping a game or two they shouldn't. 26-5 (15-3) seems fairly lofty, but this is without a doubt the deepest and most talented roster Barnes has had at Tennessee, and it isn't quite close. With JJJ back (if he stays back), it is not unrealistic to think we could play 10 guys all year long and not miss a beat.

In a year where there isn't really a clear cut #1 team yet, this squad has a very good chance to bring home the first #1 seed in program history. But, the margin for error is slim. I do think that Colorado loss might end up being the difference between a 1-seed or 2-seed if there are a lot of teams bunched up from 1-8 come March. We'll see. Still, the most important thing moving forward is to just see some consistency on offense. Tonight was extremely promising, but this cannot be a lightning in a bottle game. I don't expect us to shoot 70% often, but we have a favorable January schedule and we really need to follow this up with some more solid offensive outings in advance of our more difficult stretch of the schedule in February.

It seems overly simplistic, but this season really will come down to shot making. Barnes will always have very good, if not elite, defenses at Tennessee. It's his MO. The question has always been can he bring the juice on offense. If the team that showed up last night shows up more often these next 16 conference games, the #1 seed is very realistic. It's just all about consistency at this point. Just make wide open shots.