bleedingTNorange
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1. Another dominant win, started a bit closer than probably expected but they came out shooting well and with confidence, we quickly adjusted and from there it was just a matter of how many points we’d win by and whether or not ZZ would get his triple double, hard to take a whole lot from these kinds of games but I’ll do my best.
2. WCU scored 9 points in the first 3 minutes, over the final 37 minutes they scored just 27 points, that’s pretty insane. I’m not sure how many of us realize it’s not really common place to hold teams under 40 points, and under Barnes it almost feels routine in these kinds of games, the level of consistent defense every player is required and expected to play with has really built quite the culture, it just continues to get passed down the line to newcomers, whether high school or transfers, you quickly realize you’re expected to defend and be locked in every second you’re on the court, it’s impressive stuff.
3. Zeigler continues to handle the ball extremely well, 10 assists to just 2 turnovers, many questioned his early season turnovers especially the Louisville game and I preached patience…his assists numbers are now at a career high and his a:to ratio continues to also trend towards a career high. He’s finding his outside shot away from getting a whole lot of national recognition as arguably the best PG in the country, given his history and work ethic I’m not too worried about it, feels like a cold spell to me.
4. Speaking of 3’s, I was really glad to see Mashack take 4 open 3’s the other night, only finished 1/4, but that was a good sign, would love to see him gain confidence in that shot heading into SEC play. Again, he doesn’t have to be Lanier or Knecht, but garnering the respect of opponents to at least somewhat guard him out there makes a massive difference for our offensive spacing and also his ability to take guys off the dribble and either finish or create.
5. My Player of the Game goes to Jordan Gainey, he continues the strong start to his senior campaign and seemingly built off the confidence from the Illinois game. He’s playing much better in PG duties this year but is really shining as a scorer coming off the bench and playing off the ball, when him and Lanier are on the court together it really opens things up and creates a lot of issues for defenses, both guys are 3 level scorers and move a ton without the ball, fun to watch.
6. Darlinstone Dubar has continued to look better and better each time out as he gets more comfortable and also continues to get back into game shape. He played a season high in minutes played with 17 and you’d love to see that number continue or increase the next 2 games, 13 efficient points were added in and you’ll take any sort of scoring pop he can give you, especially given our lack of front court depth. Him finding his conditioning while getting comfortable and gaining confidence would be huge entering SEC play, if he can give you a consistent and efficient 12-15mpg during league play I think you’d absolutely sign up for that, anything more would be gravy.
7. Tennessee breezed through the first of their 3 buy games prior to conference play, avoiding the bad loss is #1 objective obviously, but dominating is good for the metrics and also allows guys to get some extra playing time and some others to work on things to build confidence, 1/1 so far in that department. Don’t want to beat a dead horse but get to 13-0 and things really set up great for the Vols, the SEC slate is going to be insane and Tennessee probably couldn’t have picked a better year for the OOC not to be a murderers row, given the strength top to bottom in the league they’ll almost certainly still end the year with a great SOS, so stacking these wins, even if against lesser competition will pay off on selection Sunday,
2. WCU scored 9 points in the first 3 minutes, over the final 37 minutes they scored just 27 points, that’s pretty insane. I’m not sure how many of us realize it’s not really common place to hold teams under 40 points, and under Barnes it almost feels routine in these kinds of games, the level of consistent defense every player is required and expected to play with has really built quite the culture, it just continues to get passed down the line to newcomers, whether high school or transfers, you quickly realize you’re expected to defend and be locked in every second you’re on the court, it’s impressive stuff.
3. Zeigler continues to handle the ball extremely well, 10 assists to just 2 turnovers, many questioned his early season turnovers especially the Louisville game and I preached patience…his assists numbers are now at a career high and his a:to ratio continues to also trend towards a career high. He’s finding his outside shot away from getting a whole lot of national recognition as arguably the best PG in the country, given his history and work ethic I’m not too worried about it, feels like a cold spell to me.
4. Speaking of 3’s, I was really glad to see Mashack take 4 open 3’s the other night, only finished 1/4, but that was a good sign, would love to see him gain confidence in that shot heading into SEC play. Again, he doesn’t have to be Lanier or Knecht, but garnering the respect of opponents to at least somewhat guard him out there makes a massive difference for our offensive spacing and also his ability to take guys off the dribble and either finish or create.
5. My Player of the Game goes to Jordan Gainey, he continues the strong start to his senior campaign and seemingly built off the confidence from the Illinois game. He’s playing much better in PG duties this year but is really shining as a scorer coming off the bench and playing off the ball, when him and Lanier are on the court together it really opens things up and creates a lot of issues for defenses, both guys are 3 level scorers and move a ton without the ball, fun to watch.
6. Darlinstone Dubar has continued to look better and better each time out as he gets more comfortable and also continues to get back into game shape. He played a season high in minutes played with 17 and you’d love to see that number continue or increase the next 2 games, 13 efficient points were added in and you’ll take any sort of scoring pop he can give you, especially given our lack of front court depth. Him finding his conditioning while getting comfortable and gaining confidence would be huge entering SEC play, if he can give you a consistent and efficient 12-15mpg during league play I think you’d absolutely sign up for that, anything more would be gravy.
7. Tennessee breezed through the first of their 3 buy games prior to conference play, avoiding the bad loss is #1 objective obviously, but dominating is good for the metrics and also allows guys to get some extra playing time and some others to work on things to build confidence, 1/1 so far in that department. Don’t want to beat a dead horse but get to 13-0 and things really set up great for the Vols, the SEC slate is going to be insane and Tennessee probably couldn’t have picked a better year for the OOC not to be a murderers row, given the strength top to bottom in the league they’ll almost certainly still end the year with a great SOS, so stacking these wins, even if against lesser competition will pay off on selection Sunday,
