BTO’s South Carolina Postgame Report

[bleedingTNorange]

1. Very disappointing loss, can’t spin it any other way, not a season ender by any stretch of the imagination or reason to throw in the towel, but it definitely sucks. South Carolina isn’t a bad team and that won’t be considered a “bad loss” on the NCAAT resume most likely when it’s all said and done, but it sure feels like a bad loss and as tough as it is to win on the road in league play that was one you really needed to win.

2. Dalton Knecht was once again very good, not as efficient as he has been recently but he was still great and hard to think what that looks like without him. Knecht was 11-24 from the field good for 45.8%, he was 3-8 from 3 good for 37.8%. The rest of the team was 10-34 from the field good for 29.4% and 2-13 from 3 good for 15.4%. That is horrible, and pathetic, and as Barnes said postgame it’s not at all fair to Knecht to have to carry a weight like that.

3. That game resembled some recent season games, where we looked like our talents had been sucked out by the Monstars. We couldn’t hit layups, wide open 3’s, free throws, you name it. Time will tell if that was a one off fluke or if that is a bad sign of something that could show itself again down the road. Idk the exact number but it felt like about 8-10 missed open bunnies, you combine that with at least 5-7 missed FT’s (considering front ends) and you’re talking about leaving 20-25 points out there. You hold a team to 63 points on sub 35% shooting and you should win that game every time, and yet it took a miracle run at the end to even make it a game.

4. I don’t want to bash players, especially veterans, so I’ll just say that if you’ve got Zeigler who was named to the Cousy list recently and Aidoo who recently has been getting All-SEC mentions as a big man they need to be much better than they were. Nobody is going to be perfect, but both had really rough games…and then JJJ once again had another rough outing. At times it really looked as if Santi & Dalton were the only 2 who cared about the game, not sure if it was a look ahead to Kentucky or something else but it was a bad look and something the announcers mentioned multiple times.

5. Big picture as I said in the opening this one doesn’t end your season but it hurts, for multiple reasons. For starters the immediate impact is that North Carolina also suffered a bad loss last night and had we won we almost certainly would’ve moved to projected 1 seed line this morning. Instead we now tumble a spot or 2 most likely, staying on the 2 seed line probably but closing the gap we had built over others on that 2 and 3 seed line rather than moving closer towards the top seeds like we would have with a win. We talked heading into SEC play about getting to 23-8(13-5), we sit now at 15-5(5-2) with 12 games remaining, that goal is still attainable but obviously requires a 8-3 finish over the final 11. With road trips to Kentucky, A&M, Bama & SC all on the slate Tennessee obviously now really has to protect the home court and try to steal a game or two on the road. Finding a way to get a win Saturday would go a long ways towards making last nights loss a moot point, it would suck because of where we’d be had we won, but would mean that we are right back on track, but winning at Rupp is never easy.



GBO!!!!

 

[hatingbamaisawayoflife]

nice write up as always

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

Good summary as always. It’s just really hard to “trust” this team to do anything special. Looks like the one-man show finally bit us in the rear. SC was good and deserved the win but the ineptitude of everyone other than DK and Santi wouldn’t happen in 99 out of 100 home games.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

One of the more disappointing losses by a Tennessee team in the regular season in recent memory when you consider the circumstances and the expectations for this team. It’s not a “bad” loss but it feels like a bad loss.

That was a total team collapse (except Knecht). It’s hard to point to one (or even two) problems that led to the loss. Basically, it was a perfect storm of terrible basketball.

Missed layups. Missed free throws. Poor rebounding by the front court. And, IMO, poor defense. Sure, South Carolina didn’t shoot well. But I can’t remember how many times Gamecock guards had wide open corner three’s. Some they missed. But some they made to bury us late. Just uncharacteristic of a TN team to let the perimeter be that open against a team like USC when we were lock down against Alabama and couldn’t let them breathe.

I think the most disappointing part about that loss though isn’t even the missed shots. It was the complete lack of composure AT HOME by this veteran team. Down the stretch, I think the team got rattled. They looked scared. From about the 10 minute mark to the 3 minute mark in the 2nd half we made one field goal. We rushed shots. We chucked up contested three’s. And we looked desperate against a far less talented team. Very strange to see when you have a bunch of upperclassmen and 5th year seniors who should know better and should have been in enough big games to not let the moment affect them. If you’re going to get rattled at home to a team like USC, how are you going to handle Rupp?? Not great most likely.

I also am starting to think that the emergence of Knecht as an alpha has been a net negative in some regards for this team. As Barnes noted, we’ve become neutered offensively and completely deferential to Knecht. Very few people are looking to score. Our offense has basically become pass to Knecht and make space for him to do something. That is not sustainable and we’ll lose 5 more games if that’s the offense we’re going to run.

JJJ and Mashack have stopped trying to hunt their shot. And ZZ and Aidoo since that week off have looked different than the Alll-SEC level they were playing at….

It was this time last year in late January that we came off a big win at home against a Top 10 Texas team and looked like we’d be the team to beat in the SEC. We then proceeded to collapse down the stretch. We’ve come off a massive win over Alabama with two games of bad basketball. This team needs to respond this weekend and not let the season get away from them. Would love to see an emphatic response from the guys, but Rupp is not the place to go when you are licking your wounds.

 

[CAVPUT]

As you pointed out, we missed a huge opportunity last night. Seems like that's just how things go for this program. You get right up to the door, but it's slammed in our faces. Seemed like we only had a couple of guys who were checked in last night. Sadly, I can't say I'm surprised. It's not like some of our players haven't pulled disappearing acts before. Barring an amazing run to end the season, I'm not counting on the league championship or a #1seed. Just hope we can hang on to one of the top #2 seeds and get a favorable draw in the tournament. Yeah, I know....keep on dreaming.

 

[TNRazor]

Great write up as always. Bottom line - defense wasn't that bad, probably good enough to win on a lot of nights, but Knecht flat out needs more help than he's getting on the offensive end if this team is going to make a run in March.

 

[BruisedOrange]

There's got to be some sports psychology research out there on team-wide bad shooting nights. But I've yet to find it.

Maybe it's just mathematical randomness at the individual level, occasionally coinciding with the randomness of several teammates, to produce an off night for the whole team.

But I continue to wonder whether teams made up of unselfish players who really like and work for each other (the ideal for a team in any sport) develop a synchronicity that allows bad performance to spread like a virus between them? Why didn't someone ask Carl Jung about that before he died!

"Calling Jordan Peterson..."

 

[VOLtaism]

This team can't shoot the basketball, it's that simple. They were an up and down shooting team the last 3 years, nothing has changed except DK. They used to get blown away when they had this type night missing layups/free throws/3's. Barnes should never play Aidoo against a physically strong backline, it almost never works out for us Kansas-Purdue-NC. They should play Estrella/Awaka and take their chances. These factors mean they can beat anyone or lose to anyone on a given night, no consistency aside from DK. When they're are hot they're hot, and when they're not they're not.

 

[BruisedOrange]

Taking a different approach...

I think someone in South Carolina has been doing something evil with gamecock bones and orange jerseys over the past three years.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

4). Wasn’t ZZ sick? It’s been a chronic issue. Surely they’re getting flu shots and it’s just more bad luck.

 

[TennesseeFan07]

I got chastised for saying this team would get bullied against a Houston-esque team and they showed why last night. Aidoo isn't awful, but he isn't an AA type guy that can go "tough out" a few buckets in the paint when things are difficult.

Ziegler looks flat. Maybe he shouldn't have been playing 35 minutes a game in all of those blowouts?

People are surprised about JJJ. This is who he has been for five years. Injured, healthy, it doesn't matter.

Personally, I think the college basketball brand has continued to deteriorate, but that's a different gripe for a different day. Aside from Purdue, (Edey can camp out in the paint and go over the top of people) there isn't another team that has it all together or doesn't have question marks. I have been telling people to pump the brakes on this team. They are plenty capable of making a run and I would put them on the short list of dangerous teams. But, they could also get eliminated on the first weekend against a 10 seed. This is comprised of the same players that puckered up against Oregon State, Michigan and FAU down the stretch in the NCAA Tournament. The only thing different is Knecht. To make a title run, Knecht very well may have to score 35 points each game from the Sweet 16 on, which is possible, but something I would hate to rely on.

 

[cncchris33]

I got chastised for saying this team would get bullied against a Houston-esque team and they showed why last night. Aidoo isn't awful, but he isn't an AA type guy that can go "tough out" a few buckets in the paint when things are difficult.

Ziegler looks flat. Maybe he shouldn't have been playing 35 minutes a game in all of those blowouts?

People are surprised about JJJ. This is who he has been for five years. Injured, healthy, it doesn't matter.

Personally, I think the college basketball brand has continued to deteriorate, but that's a different gripe for a different day. Aside from Purdue, (Edey can camp out in the paint and go over the top of people) there isn't another team that has it all together or doesn't have question marks. I have been telling people to pump the brakes on this team. They are plenty capable of making a run and I would put them on the short list of dangerous teams. But, they could also get eliminated on the first weekend against a 10 seed. This is comprised of the same players that puckered up against Oregon State, Michigan and FAU down the stretch in the NCAA Tournament. The only thing different is Knecht. To make a title run, Knecht very well may have to score 35 points each game from the Sweet 16 on, which is possible, but something I would hate to rely on.

"Chastised" is an interesting narrative. Two, maybe three people (myself included) respectfully disagreed with you and offered an alternative theory.

Athletically and stylistically, USCe and Houston are similar, so yes, that was a profile of how we'd be played by a team like Houston. However, we beat ourselves just as much as USCe beat us. I don't want to minimize their effort, but we missed a ton of shots that they had little to no effect on. They weren't defending us on 8 missed FTs. They didn't force us to miss all 15 layups. If we just shoot our averages, we win by 15 points.

Defensively, they bothered us, and Houston would attempt to do the same. They dictated pace and Houston would try and do the same. Very similar teams, but the discussion previously centered around which 1-seed would we prefer to be matched against, and I still think we match up best with Houston among the projected 1-seeds from that discussion.

 

[cncchris33]

1. Very disappointing loss, can’t spin it any other way, not a season ender by any stretch of the imagination or reason to throw in the towel, but it definitely sucks. South Carolina isn’t a bad team and that won’t be considered a “bad loss” on the NCAAT resume most likely when it’s all said and done, but it sure feels like a bad loss and as tough as it is to win on the road in league play that was one you really needed to win.

2. Dalton Knecht was once again very good, not as efficient as he has been recently but he was still great and hard to think what that looks like without him. Knecht was 11-24 from the field good for 45.8%, he was 3-8 from 3 good for 37.8%. The rest of the team was 10-34 from the field good for 29.4% and 2-13 from 3 good for 15.4%. That is horrible, and pathetic, and as Barnes said postgame it’s not at all fair to Knecht to have to carry a weight like that.

3. That game resembled some recent season games, where we looked like our talents had been sucked out by the Monstars. We couldn’t hit layups, wide open 3’s, free throws, you name it. Time will tell if that was a one off fluke or if that is a bad sign of something that could show itself again down the road. Idk the exact number but it felt like about 8-10 missed open bunnies, you combine that with at least 5-7 missed FT’s (considering front ends) and you’re talking about leaving 20-25 points out there. You hold a team to 63 points on sub 35% shooting and you should win that game every time, and yet it took a miracle run at the end to even make it a game.

4. I don’t want to bash players, especially veterans, so I’ll just say that if you’ve got Zeigler who was named to the Cousy list recently and Aidoo who recently has been getting All-SEC mentions as a big man they need to be much better than they were. Nobody is going to be perfect, but both had really rough games…and then JJJ once again had another rough outing. At times it really looked as if Santi & Dalton were the only 2 who cared about the game, not sure if it was a look ahead to Kentucky or something else but it was a bad look and something the announcers mentioned multiple times.

5. Big picture as I said in the opening this one doesn’t end your season but it hurts, for multiple reasons. For starters the immediate impact is that North Carolina also suffered a bad loss last night and had we won we almost certainly would’ve moved to projected 1 seed line this morning. Instead we now tumble a spot or 2 most likely, staying on the 2 seed line probably but closing the gap we had built over others on that 2 and 3 seed line rather than moving closer towards the top seeds like we would have with a win. We talked heading into SEC play about getting to 23-8(13-5), we sit now at 15-5(5-2) with 12 games remaining, that goal is still attainable but obviously requires a 8-3 finish over the final 11. With road trips to Kentucky, A&M, Bama & SC all on the slate Tennessee obviously now really has to protect the home court and try to steal a game or two on the road. Finding a way to get a win Saturday would go a long ways towards making last nights loss a moot point, it would suck because of where we’d be had we won, but would mean that we are right back on track, but winning at Rupp is never easy.



GBO!!!!

Agree with everything here, but we can't not talk about the gross tactical error of Barnes going super small-ball when ZZ toed the FT line with 4:05 to play down 5 points, and then staying with that lineup while BJ Mack bullies Mashack on three straight possessions and scores 5 points.

We played terrible on the floor, but that was a brutal coaching move that deserves criticism of its own.

 

[ShelbourneVol]

One of the more disappointing losses by a Tennessee team in the regular season in recent memory when you consider the circumstances and the expectations for this team. It’s not a “bad” loss but it feels like a bad loss.

That was a total team collapse (except Knecht). It’s hard to point to one (or even two) problems that led to the loss. Basically, it was a perfect storm of terrible basketball.

Missed layups. Missed free throws. Poor rebounding by the front court. And, IMO, poor defense. Sure, South Carolina didn’t shoot well. But I can’t remember how many times Gamecock guards had wide open corner three’s. Some they missed. But some they made to bury us late. Just uncharacteristic of a TN team to let the perimeter be that open against a team like USC when we were lock down against Alabama and couldn’t let them breathe.

I think the most disappointing part about that loss though isn’t even the missed shots. It was the complete lack of composure AT HOME by this veteran team. Down the stretch, I think the team got rattled. They looked scared. From about the 10 minute mark to the 3 minute mark in the 2nd half we made one field goal. We rushed shots. We chucked up contested three’s. And we looked desperate against a far less talented team. Very strange to see when you have a bunch of upperclassmen and 5th year seniors who should know better and should have been in enough big games to not let the moment affect them. If you’re going to get rattled at home to a team like USC, how are you going to handle Rupp?? Not great most likely.

I also am starting to think that the emergence of Knecht as an alpha has been a net negative in some regards for this team. As Barnes noted, we’ve become neutered offensively and completely deferential to Knecht. Very few people are looking to score. Our offense has basically become pass to Knecht and make space for him to do something. That is not sustainable and we’ll lose 5 more games if that’s the offense we’re going to run.

JJJ and Mashack have stopped trying to hunt their shot. And ZZ and Aidoo since that week off have looked different than the Alll-SEC level they were playing at….

It was this time last year in late January that we came off a big win at home against a Top 10 Texas team and looked like we’d be the team to beat in the SEC. We then proceeded to collapse down the stretch. We’ve come off a massive win over Alabama with two games of bad basketball. This team needs to respond this weekend and not let the season get away from them. Would love to see an emphatic response from the guys, but Rupp is not the place to go when you are licking your wounds.

I was thinking last night it could be what you’re saying about Knecht making the rest of the offensive players a bit lazy, or hesitant, or intimidated , or rusty. The other thing I thought was the NCAA news coming out 5 hours before the game may have put a chill in the team.

 

[VolBricks]

Looked to me like this team found out they were a 14 point favorite but nobody told USC that they were supposed to lay down and give up before the game started.

 

[Orangeslide]

"Chastised" is an interesting narrative. Two, maybe three people (myself included) respectfully disagreed with you and offered an alternative theory.

Athletically and stylistically, USCe and Houston are similar, so yes, that was a profile of how we'd be played by a team like Houston. However, we beat ourselves just as much as USCe beat us. I don't want to minimize their effort, but we missed a ton of shots that they had little to no effect on. They weren't defending us on 8 missed FTs. They didn't force us to miss all 15 layups. If we just shoot our averages, we win by 15 points.

Defensively, they bothered us, and Houston would attempt to do the same. They dictated pace and Houston would try and do the same. Very similar teams, but the discussion previously centered around which 1-seed would we prefer to be matched against, and I still think we match up best with Houston among the projected 1-seeds from that discussion.

Houston would be a nightmare matchup for Tennessee. Just pray they are not in our bracket. They are older, mature players who can guard and play physical just like Carolina. They dictate pace too. I think Barnes should have amped up full
court pressure a little earlier. His decision to go small late backfired on him as Carolina bullied Mashack in the post. In rockfight games, every possession is so important. You can’t come up empty like UT did for extended periods and win those type of games. Rupp is not the place to go licking our wounds. We will find out the character and mental toughness we possess this Saturday. I’m afraid we are looking at an 0-2 week. Carolina punked us on our home floor and we played scared down the stretch with the exception of DK. These are the type of games you run into in the
big dance. We shot horrible last night.

 

[cncchris33]

Houston would be a nightmare matchup for Tennessee. Just pray they are not in our bracket. They are older, mature players who can guard and play physical just like Carolina. They dictate pace too. I think Barnes should have amped up full
court pressure a little earlier. His decision to go small late backfired on him as Carolina bullied Mashack in the post. In rockfight games, every possession is so important. You can’t come up empty like UT did for extended periods and win those type of games. Rupp is not the place to go licking our wounds. We will find out the character and mental toughness we possess this Saturday. I’m afraid we are looking at an 0-2 week. Carolina punked us on our home floor and we played scared down the stretch with the exception of DK. These are the type of games you run into in the
big dance. We shot horrible last night.

But they're still a better matchup for us that Purdue, UNC, or UCONN. I'd rather play Houston than any of those, and perhaps the USCe game is our blueprint for how Houston would theoretically play us.

 

[CAVPUT]

But they're still a better matchup for us that Purdue, UNC, or UCONN. I'd rather play Houston than any of those, and perhaps the USCe game is our blueprint for how Houston would theoretically play us.

Let's hope we are able to reach the point of facing those types of teams in March. With this team, I wouldn't consider it a given.

 

[b_gann]

But they're still a better matchup for us that Purdue, UNC, or UCONN. I'd rather play Houston than any of those, and perhaps the USCe game is our blueprint for how Houston would theoretically play us.

I think the physical teams can just expose our lack of athleticism and aggressive players more. We're a good to great basketball team, but across the board, we're not the biggest, fastest, and strongest bunch. When we get pressed up on, it can be a challenge. Having Tobe become a factor at some point would help a lot there.

Also, a game like this makes me wonder how we averaged more than 50 ppg last year without Dalton. I know Santi was more of a factor, but some of this has been rough to watch. As was mentioned earlier, we're legit shooting like 15% with some of our key rotation guys in some of these games.

 

[PreacherVol2]

Agree with everything here, but we can't not talk about the gross tactical error of Barnes going super small-ball when ZZ toed the FT line with 4:05 to play down 5 points, and then staying with that lineup while BJ Mack bullies JJJ on three straight possessions and scores 5 points.

We played terrible on the floor, but that was a brutal coaching move that deserves criticism of its own.

It wasn't JJJ, it was Mashack

 

[esarmstrong]

Bad basketball and good basketball seem to be contagious among the players on this team. When one guy misses an easy shot or starts missing free throws, everyone starts doing it. When Aidoo missed that layup and didn't even draw iron on the first shot of the game I had an awful feeling about this game. I wish I could say I was confident about our ability to rebound this weekend, but I'm not.

 

[lefthander]

I think the physical teams can just expose our lack of athleticism and aggressive players more. We're a good to great basketball team, but across the board, we're not the biggest, fastest, and strongest bunch. When we get pressed up on, it can be a challenge. Having Tobe become a factor at some point would help a lot there.

Also, a game like this makes me wonder how we averaged more than 50 ppg last year without Dalton. I know Santi was more of a factor, but some of this has been rough to watch. As was mentioned earlier, we're legit shooting like 15% with some of our key rotation guys in some of these games.

My earlier comments re Ms St were not agreed with and that is ok. However, as it develops they are not good and may not make tournament. However, they are very physical and expose us inside as Aidoo gets taken totally out of the game by stronger frontlines.
Also it has been clear for weeks that they cannot score the ball unless Knecht is on fire. Then seems the open shots for others start to fall. He was not that efficient last night and no one came close to helping .
I thought after Bama that Cocks would be tough but we win. Not easy to spot wins with some degree of confidence against anyone now. Seems Barnes is searching now rather than firming up rotation and roles.

 

[Tnphil]

We seem to sit back and rely on DK pulling games out for us and that's not a good thing.

 

[87&91ALUM]

We have turned into a one basketball player show with Knecht. The three amigos under the basket...Aidoo, Awaka, JJJ - are not getting it done. Way too many high school basketball kinda mistakes. ZZ and Santi should be scoring over 20 points each every game. Enough...just practice harder and get better soon. Kentucky will kill us if we play like last night.

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

@BTO... well said!

However, I am going to go a different direction on the game (last two games).
Focus or the Lack Thereof
The focus or attention to detail and the following of the game plan were a factor. Some might say press clippings, but the effort of Santi and Dalton argue against that.
Some of it should be attributed to an off night.
Some of the players abandoned the game plan!
Some of them did not have there head in the game ... for whatever reason.
Defensive Game Plan and On Floor Product
Defensively we achieved our objective ... despite [the stupid] leaving certain specific players wide open for three.
We played well enough to win.
Offensively
Physically, the style of play was a big advantage to USC. I thought I was watching the Detroit Pistons of my childhood.
We are a hounding, aggressive, intense, helping defense. But we are not a physical defense.
They beat and banged on us all night. We were ill prepared for that on the offensive end of the floor.
Dalton's misses (3-of the 4) at the FT line were the closest thing to 'makes' as you could get. But I suspect that he will be working on that again this week.
But let's face it ... we missed the bunnies. JUST CAN'T DO THAT! Call it snake bit, or off or whatever, but you have to make layups and if you are going to dunk it - you need to make it.
Referees and Their Calls
The most problematic is the attitude and disposition of the players in response to bad calls. I think the referees got in the players heads. There is no question they got into the fans heads.
Frankly, my brother was absolutely livid. (Me not so much, you have a scouting report on the referees. You should know what you can and cannot do.)
Granted, I think there is still a need to send the tape into the office.
But Barnes' previous discussion with SEC office did not go well. He talked with the referees (last night) and you could see by their facial expression and head shake that they were having none of it. They were not even listening. Don't believe me ... go back and look at every encounter Rick had with the refs! The refs made it clear who was in charge. Somebody sent down the enforcement crew to make sure everybody knew who was in charge and they were ready from the jump to put folks in their place. 4 Fouls in 1 minute is telling!
The animation of Barnes at bad calls at Vandy, was definitely curtailed last night!!!

Am I disappointed, you betcha!
This is/was a wake up game. This is the game where the season turns ... we will become a focused well oiled machine .... or we whine, bicker and moan ... it is on the players to determine what they are going to do.
There will be changes on Saturday. GBO.