bleedingTNorange
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1. Much like the midweek game against Arkansas we came out focused and ready to play and put together a complete performance. That’s a pretty bad Vanderbilt team, and we’ve played well at home, but when you can win by 30+ without anybody playing more than 25 minutes that’s super impressive. Again couldn’t have asked for much better on either end of the court from Tennessee, that stacks up there with one of their best showings of the year imo.
2. No one guy went off, it was a balanced attack from Tennessee as they had all 5 starters go for double digits, and even more impressive was the efficient manner in which they did it. The 5 starters combined to go 25-40 from the field good for 62.5% and 12/20 from 3 good for 60%, which is absolutely bonkers. You obviously can’t count on that efficiency every single night, but it shows how balanced this offense can be and also how each guy needs to be aggressive and take the shots they get that are open, Knecht is drawing attention and doing a great job finding teammates, they need to continue to be aggressive.
3. I mentioned recently how it feels you can count on Knecht & Zeigler to bring it most every night, outside of them you would love to be able to count on a guy or two to consistently bring it. Jonas Aidoo had a great midweek game and I mentioned how 23 & 12 probably isn’t a fair expectation, but that 10 & 7 with rim protection should be a minimum from him, well he gave 11 & 8 with 3 blocks in just 20 minutes of gameplay, you’ll gladly take that. Similarly JJJ did exactly what you’d like to get from him, gave you 13 & 7 after giving you 12 & 3 in the Arkansas game. The best part though in my opinion was Vescovi, he finally looked like the Vescovi of old and you’d love to bottle that up and see that aggression from him each night…12pts 5ast 3rbd, he was 4/5 from 3 and was looking for his shots, and he and Knecht really seemed to be on a great page playing off each other. He’s too good of a shooter and getting too good of looks off the attention Knecht is drawing that he’s gotta stay aggressive, every time he’s open he needs to be letting that thing fly, 5+ attempts from deep should be a minimum for him.
4. A great aspect of these 2 complete showings this week was that you got some key players some rest, while also finding some minutes for younger guys. Your starters averaged only about 25mpg over both games which is obviously a lighter workload than most conference games for those guys. On the flip side you got some young guys some meaningful minutes, I thought Cameron Carr really showed his potential, that athleticism and wingspan is not something you can teach and you can see why coaches are so excited about his future here.
5. Tennessee needed to go 2-0 this week and they did so in convincing fashion, entering the 6 game stretch starting with LSU we said 5-1 or 6-0 would be ideal, some very winnable games. Obviously dropped the A&M game at their place, so currently 3-1 through 4 games of that stretch, the last 2 this week being at Missouri tomorrow nigh and then A&M comes to town Saturday. Show up and win these 2 games this week and you’re sitting at 21-6(11-3) entering the tough 4 game stretch to close the season but sitting in a great spot. Go 2-0 and you’re firmly on the 2 seed line with an outside shot still at a 1 seed, with the 3 seed line likely being the floor, still with a great shot at a SEC title as well. You also never know how things will unfold, South Carolina game looks much more winnable and now Auburn will likely be without Jaylin Williams when we face them, making that game more winnable as well. I don’t expect to win out by any stretch, losses happen in college basketball, just keep playing good ball and continuing to improve as a team as you head into March.
GBO!!!!
2. No one guy went off, it was a balanced attack from Tennessee as they had all 5 starters go for double digits, and even more impressive was the efficient manner in which they did it. The 5 starters combined to go 25-40 from the field good for 62.5% and 12/20 from 3 good for 60%, which is absolutely bonkers. You obviously can’t count on that efficiency every single night, but it shows how balanced this offense can be and also how each guy needs to be aggressive and take the shots they get that are open, Knecht is drawing attention and doing a great job finding teammates, they need to continue to be aggressive.
3. I mentioned recently how it feels you can count on Knecht & Zeigler to bring it most every night, outside of them you would love to be able to count on a guy or two to consistently bring it. Jonas Aidoo had a great midweek game and I mentioned how 23 & 12 probably isn’t a fair expectation, but that 10 & 7 with rim protection should be a minimum from him, well he gave 11 & 8 with 3 blocks in just 20 minutes of gameplay, you’ll gladly take that. Similarly JJJ did exactly what you’d like to get from him, gave you 13 & 7 after giving you 12 & 3 in the Arkansas game. The best part though in my opinion was Vescovi, he finally looked like the Vescovi of old and you’d love to bottle that up and see that aggression from him each night…12pts 5ast 3rbd, he was 4/5 from 3 and was looking for his shots, and he and Knecht really seemed to be on a great page playing off each other. He’s too good of a shooter and getting too good of looks off the attention Knecht is drawing that he’s gotta stay aggressive, every time he’s open he needs to be letting that thing fly, 5+ attempts from deep should be a minimum for him.
4. A great aspect of these 2 complete showings this week was that you got some key players some rest, while also finding some minutes for younger guys. Your starters averaged only about 25mpg over both games which is obviously a lighter workload than most conference games for those guys. On the flip side you got some young guys some meaningful minutes, I thought Cameron Carr really showed his potential, that athleticism and wingspan is not something you can teach and you can see why coaches are so excited about his future here.
5. Tennessee needed to go 2-0 this week and they did so in convincing fashion, entering the 6 game stretch starting with LSU we said 5-1 or 6-0 would be ideal, some very winnable games. Obviously dropped the A&M game at their place, so currently 3-1 through 4 games of that stretch, the last 2 this week being at Missouri tomorrow nigh and then A&M comes to town Saturday. Show up and win these 2 games this week and you’re sitting at 21-6(11-3) entering the tough 4 game stretch to close the season but sitting in a great spot. Go 2-0 and you’re firmly on the 2 seed line with an outside shot still at a 1 seed, with the 3 seed line likely being the floor, still with a great shot at a SEC title as well. You also never know how things will unfold, South Carolina game looks much more winnable and now Auburn will likely be without Jaylin Williams when we face them, making that game more winnable as well. I don’t expect to win out by any stretch, losses happen in college basketball, just keep playing good ball and continuing to improve as a team as you head into March.
GBO!!!!
As usual, great write up. One game at a time down the stretch
