bleedingTNorange
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1. Another solid resume win, NCST is not a world beater by any means but they’re likely a fringe NCAAT team, and that was played on a neutral court at an absurdly late start time, you’ll take that Q1 win every single day of the week. A lot of aspects weren’t pretty, some guys didn’t have it, some were under the weather, but the guys found a way to get it done and some others stepped up, that’s a sign of a great team.
2. On a night where Dalton Knecht struggled to get anything going it was JJJ who impressed once again and is continuing his stellar play in his final year on Rocky Top. He’s been criticized a lot for not showing up when needed but he was needed last night and he showed up, that was great to see from him. He’s now up to 45% from 3 on the year which is an incredible number for him, he’s getting great looks and taking great shots and you can see the work he’s put in and the confidence both he and his team have in him, he’s also driving to the rim more than we’ve ever seen him do, amazing what a healthy slate can do for you.
3. I thought Zeigler took yet another step in a positive direction, as I said weeks ago you needed old Zakai back and you’d probably just have to deal with some of the rust, it’s felt little by little he’s getting there and last night was the best he’s looked. The shot looked good, he was a pest defensively, he had some great assists, if we wanna nit pick he missed a couple bunnies, but again, last night was the best he’s looked which is a great sign going forward imo.
4. Mashack played another great game, he’s the unsung hero lots of times for us but he’s just so damn good, especially when a team has a player who’s feeling it offensively he just ends it. With JJJ showing more offense it’s allowed Mashack to play alongside him and it not hinder the offensive efficiency, this has allowed Mashack to pull some minutes from Gainey and allowed Mashack some more minutes recently, and deservingly so. He’s finding his role very nicely, getting into the lane when it’s there and hitting that nice little half hook, and then doing what he always has done defensively.
5. I mentioned pregame that I thought Awaka on Burns would be interesting and it was, thought that was a game changer to an extent. Burns was getting going on Aidoo and catching the ball way too close to the basket and getting backed down to where DJ would get to his spot each time, insert Awaka and that ended. He made DJ work much harder which tired him out, forced him to catch it further out which made it easier to dig down on a dribble by a guard and it really frustrated him and pretty much took him out of the game. Tobe also brought great energy and his insane rebound rate, 12 rebounds in 18 minutes, Aidoo had 4 in 26…unfortunately that also comes with fouls and Tobe had 4 fouls in 18 minutes as well. That’s a tough one because you don’t want to hamper his style and effectiveness, but you’re also limited on his minutes because of his foul tendencies, he by far leads all rotational players in fouls/minute.
6. That should pretty much put a bow on the OOC slate, they’ve got 2 games left but likely 20+ point favorites in both, so should be 2 more wins to close it out. Would put Tennessee at 10-3 entering conference play, road win against Wisconsin, home win against Illinois, neutral site against NCST & Syracuse…3 losses being away from home against Top 15 teams, that’s a great start to a NCAAT resume. As I’ve mentioned as well the SEC slate opens up pretty soft so this is definitely a stretch we need to be stacking wins, continuing to figure things out as a team, and building confidence as well.
GBO!!!
2. On a night where Dalton Knecht struggled to get anything going it was JJJ who impressed once again and is continuing his stellar play in his final year on Rocky Top. He’s been criticized a lot for not showing up when needed but he was needed last night and he showed up, that was great to see from him. He’s now up to 45% from 3 on the year which is an incredible number for him, he’s getting great looks and taking great shots and you can see the work he’s put in and the confidence both he and his team have in him, he’s also driving to the rim more than we’ve ever seen him do, amazing what a healthy slate can do for you.
3. I thought Zeigler took yet another step in a positive direction, as I said weeks ago you needed old Zakai back and you’d probably just have to deal with some of the rust, it’s felt little by little he’s getting there and last night was the best he’s looked. The shot looked good, he was a pest defensively, he had some great assists, if we wanna nit pick he missed a couple bunnies, but again, last night was the best he’s looked which is a great sign going forward imo.
4. Mashack played another great game, he’s the unsung hero lots of times for us but he’s just so damn good, especially when a team has a player who’s feeling it offensively he just ends it. With JJJ showing more offense it’s allowed Mashack to play alongside him and it not hinder the offensive efficiency, this has allowed Mashack to pull some minutes from Gainey and allowed Mashack some more minutes recently, and deservingly so. He’s finding his role very nicely, getting into the lane when it’s there and hitting that nice little half hook, and then doing what he always has done defensively.
5. I mentioned pregame that I thought Awaka on Burns would be interesting and it was, thought that was a game changer to an extent. Burns was getting going on Aidoo and catching the ball way too close to the basket and getting backed down to where DJ would get to his spot each time, insert Awaka and that ended. He made DJ work much harder which tired him out, forced him to catch it further out which made it easier to dig down on a dribble by a guard and it really frustrated him and pretty much took him out of the game. Tobe also brought great energy and his insane rebound rate, 12 rebounds in 18 minutes, Aidoo had 4 in 26…unfortunately that also comes with fouls and Tobe had 4 fouls in 18 minutes as well. That’s a tough one because you don’t want to hamper his style and effectiveness, but you’re also limited on his minutes because of his foul tendencies, he by far leads all rotational players in fouls/minute.
6. That should pretty much put a bow on the OOC slate, they’ve got 2 games left but likely 20+ point favorites in both, so should be 2 more wins to close it out. Would put Tennessee at 10-3 entering conference play, road win against Wisconsin, home win against Illinois, neutral site against NCST & Syracuse…3 losses being away from home against Top 15 teams, that’s a great start to a NCAAT resume. As I’ve mentioned as well the SEC slate opens up pretty soft so this is definitely a stretch we need to be stacking wins, continuing to figure things out as a team, and building confidence as well.
GBO!!!
