BTO’s Postgame Report

[Stoerner Fumbles]

I think the stat you may be looking for is a little deceiving because the officials evened it out near the end once the game was decided. But over the first 19 minutes and 53 seconds, Tennessee had committed 4 fouls and held a 7-point lead. Over the final 20 minutes and 7 seconds, we somehow committed 16 additional fouls. A 4:1 ratio and a 16-point swing in the score. Am I supposed to believe that we suddenly began playing 4x as aggressive over that last 20 minutes?

The second half, it was like an entirely different crew of officials came onto the court. And the touch fouls they called on Auburn inside the final minute only helped to mask the discrepancy. No way that level of contact was being called before that point in the second half. Vescovi and Key both got leveled on shots they made that were much more egregious than anything called in the final minute, and the whistle never sounded.

I hate for it to sound like sour grapes, and I am one of the last people to ever blame the officials for a loss, but that was inexcusable, yesterday.

Pearl is a legend for lobbying at half on specific types of calls. I hate blaming refs, but we were inching up to the bonus with 15 minutes left in the second half. We couldn’t play shooters tight, couldn’t screen our way, and got really cautious on the boards. The fouls also really effected minutes for Mashack and JJJ. Hard to watch.

 

[NighthawkVol]

1. Always sucks losing when you led for much of the game, especially emotionally invested type of games where you think we aren’t likely to win and then control the game and still lose, those hurt the most. Was always going to be a tough game obviously but the fashion in which it happened made it more painful, but hell we are Vol fans, what else would you expect.

2. I’m not sure how many thought we’d be better without ZZ, I can think of 1 person specifically that thought we’d be better defensively, that poster should come eat his crow in front of everyone. We could not stop Auburn off the dribble and they absolutely exposed it in the 2nd half to the tune of 49 points, that is gross. We have nobody quick enough to stay with a quick guard, that is a major disadvantage for a defense, simply put.

3. Vescovi played his ass off and it sucks we wasted that outing from him, maybe he can duplicate it and carry this hot streak he’s on. We are absolutely going to need it from him, I liked the aggression we saw from Key, but goodness we’ve got to get something from JJJ and Phillips as well.

4. Didn’t finish the regular season how we wanted, likely looking at a 5 seed in SECT and a 3 seed maybe 4 in the NCAAT. I think this team is very draw dependent meaning I could see them making a run or I could see them losing early on. Obviously would’ve prefer we won this game but hopefully it refocus’ the guys and they realize how close to the end they are. Our defensive intensity can still absolutely disrupt teams who have never seen it, of course you can also take on a lucky team shooting above their average much like today. We currently rank near dead last in KenPoms luck ranking, meaning we are losing games we shouldn’t and teams are hitting some shots they shouldn’t, maybe all of that pays off and evens out come the tournament.



GBO!!!

I think Key was a silver lining. If he can play like that when JJJ and Phillips play their normal game, that’s huge.

 

[cardvolfan]

I think the stat you may be looking for is a little deceiving because the officials evened it out near the end once the game was decided. But over the first 19 minutes and 53 seconds, Tennessee had committed 4 fouls and held a 7-point lead. Over the final 20 minutes and 7 seconds, we somehow committed 16 additional fouls. A 4:1 ratio and a 16-point swing in the score. Am I supposed to believe that we suddenly began playing 4x as aggressive over that last 20 minutes?

The second half, it was like an entirely different crew of officials came onto the court. And the touch fouls they called on Auburn inside the final minute only helped to mask the discrepancy. No way that level of contact was being called before that point in the second half. Vescovi and Key both got leveled on shots they made that were much more egregious than anything called in the final minute, and the whistle never sounded.

I hate for it to sound like sour grapes, and I am one of the last people to ever blame the officials for a loss, but that was inexcusable, yesterday.

This is the only game I was unable to watch live this year. I only wondered what might have happened and couldn’t tell based on various comments from posters. Good to know the true story. Also interesting to see in your next post that the halfcourt offense looked pretty good. I was very pleased with how the halfcourt offense went down against Arkansas, as well. Yeah, sounds like Pearlitis had a definite effect the 2nd half.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Phillips needs to be more aggressive on the offensive end as he was 6 for 6 from the free throw line today and threw down a sick dunk on one possession.

I liked that driving layup by JJJ and he shoots too many three point shots instead of settling for more mid range looks which could be his bread and butter move overseas or in the NBA.

Vescovi kept Tennessee in the game today and will be the option that opposing defenses try to take away in the future.

Onward to the SEC Tournament in Nashville as a 5 seed.

Phillips can become and exceptional player if and when he learns how to handle the ball on the floor and gains enough muscle to complete drives in the lane. He showed some progress last night, but still needs to learn how to use his special skills.

 

[vol94]

I’m not necessarily shocked that we lost the game. It was always going to be a tough time. I’m mostly just disappointed that we seem to be very bad at closing out close games. We’ve pretty much either blown out our competition or we’ve lost excruciatingly painful close games.

I know some of that is just bad luck, but it doesn’t exactly instill confidence for me in March when the vast majority of games in the post-season are nail-biters. I hope I’m proven wrong. I hope we somehow find the way to put all of these disparate pieces together and buck the injury bug, but I feel like we just kind of are who we are and we’re not a team I trust right now to win closes games. I just hope were up 8-10 points late if we want to pull something out.

Good post. This team must be up 6 or more points down the stretch, esp at the 2min mark.

The Auburn game @ TBA is the only close game I recall winning. We choked against Vandy and Mizz (great come back) and had Auburn on the ropes.

TN had the game but couldn’t score in the final four min as we don’t have the “go to guy” who can score when needed. You could see the panic down the stretch causing the turnovers.

Maybe that will change as March is a month of craziness. Michigan was up and down last yr and then made a run so maybe TN can string together three or more good games. But it appears two in a row is our ceiling right now.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

I think Key was a silver lining. If he can play like that when JJJ and Phillips play their normal game, that’s huge.

Great defensive game in addition to the shots he made. He’s still passing on open looks. I think with confidence, he can make a big contribution.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Great defensive game in addition to the shots he made. He’s still passing on open looks. I think with confidence, he can make a big contribution.

He should have a couple games in the SECT to gain that confidence. Guess we’ll see.

 

[Tnphil]

I read that we didn't score a point from the field the last 6:23 of the game? Not going to win most games doing that.

 

[tombowalker]

Phillips needs to be more aggressive on the offensive end as he was 6 for 6 from the free throw line today and threw down a sick dunk on one possession.

I liked that driving layup by JJJ and he shoots too many three point shots instead of settling for more mid range looks which could be his bread and butter move overseas or in the NBA.

Vescovi kept Tennessee in the game today and will be the option that opposing defenses try to take away in the future.

Onward to the SEC Tournament in Nashville as a 5 seed.

meh. There's a reason analytical teams shy away from midrange. It's just not an efficient way to score.

If it's your only good look, sure, go for it. But I doubt you'll see many players / teams game-planning or prioritizing those sort of looks.

 

[BACKDOC]

@CAVPUT still think the defense is better without ZZZ?

We can tell you're not a scientist; your sample size is one game. With or without ZZ, we probably aren't beating Auburn at Auburn on Senior Day. Let's face it we have no one we can depend on at the end of close games. How many close games have we won this year, with or without ZZ; I mean there is a reason Barnes was the only coach in America that recruited him.

 

[mtvols]

I don’t get it. We shoot 50% from the field and from 3 and lose by nearly double digits. Our defense was not alright, but it’s not like barn went out of their minds. free throw shooting is an Achilles heel. There’s not one stat that stands out in this one as “yep that’ll do it”. I mean 11 turnovers I guess but it wasn’t a HUGE discrepancy

no baskets in the last 6 minutes will do it

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

We can tell you're not a scientist; your sample size is one game. With or without ZZ, we probably aren't beating Auburn at Auburn on Senior Day. Let's face it we have no one we can depend on at the end of close games. How many close games have we won this year, with or without ZZ; I mean there is a reason Barnes was the only coach in America that recruited him.

If you’re going to attack someone’s logic, learn how to form a sentence with punctuation first.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

We can tell you're not a scientist; your sample size is one game. With or without ZZ, we probably aren't beating Auburn at Auburn on Senior Day. Let's face it we have no one we can depend on at the end of close games. How many close games have we won this year, with or without ZZ; I mean there is a reason Barnes was the only coach in America that recruited him.

ZZ had offers from Minnesota, Boston College, Southern Illinois, Manhattan, Wichita State, and New Mexico State. Barnes didn’t really recruit ZZ so much as he discovered him. ZZ enrolled barely a week after his official visit in August and 3 weeks after he was offered.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

I think the stat you may be looking for is a little deceiving because the officials evened it out near the end once the game was decided. But over the first 19 minutes and 53 seconds, Tennessee had committed 4 fouls and held a 7-point lead. Over the final 20 minutes and 7 seconds, we somehow committed 16 additional fouls. A 4:1 ratio and a 16-point swing in the score. Am I supposed to believe that we suddenly began playing 4x as aggressive over that last 20 minutes?

The second half, it was like an entirely different crew of officials came onto the court. And the touch fouls they called on Auburn inside the final minute only helped to mask the discrepancy. No way that level of contact was being called before that point in the second half. Vescovi and Key both got leveled on shots they made that were much more egregious than anything called in the final minute, and the whistle never sounded.

I hate for it to sound like sour grapes, and I am one of the last people to ever blame the officials for a loss, but that was inexcusable, yesterday.

We should have played better (defense, rebounds and FTs in particular) but the refs definitely were a factor late in the game. We had back-to-back possessions where they made very poor calls...one when SV drove into the lane and his defender ran into him from behind which was called a walk. Next possession JJJ drives into the lane and is hacked across both arms as he goes up without no foul being called.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

3 starters weren’t able to make an impact.

Mashack’s performance was especially disappointing, but he was overdue having a setback game. 12 minutes. 3 quick fouls - 5 by the final buzzer. 2 points - didn’t take a free throw or a attempt a 3-pointer. Zero steals. Zero rebounds. 2 turnovers. 1 block. 1 assist. 1-2 shooting.

Aidoo and Olivier weren’t much better. TN can’t have those types of efforts and take care of any business in the tournaments.

 

[lynnh]

Barnes offense is a revolving door of handing the ball off time after time at the top of the key with a lot of wasted movement with nothing going towards the basket... I Formation offense

Wasted motion and guards need get ball from bigs at top key I want see players driving to basket dunking ball kick to open shooter doesn't have be 3 Vols have no mid-range shooters this offense stale.......
Go Vols........

 

[cardvolfan]

Wasted motion and guards need get ball from bigs at top key I want see players driving to basket dunking ball kick to open shooter doesn't have be 3 Vols have no mid-range shooters this offense stale.......
Go Vols........

Lawdy…………