Game Thread: (4/5) Lady Vols 61 - Auburn 71

[SGMVols]

NP? I will give you Tenn and 9 points..

If Sportsbooks paid attention to WBB, a $10 bet on Auburn -9.5 would’ve probably made you a millionaire tonight.

 

[turbovol]

Depends on how Auburn shoots, and whether Key can stay in the game.

We don't look like a good tournament team to me because we rely too much on Key, and our offense reverts to throw it to Jordy and ride her when the chips are down. We will run into good teams in the tournament who will exploit those areas along with our turnovers and inability to keep a body on a 3 pt shooter. Auburn had as many open looks as they could want tonight kicking the ball back out once we collapse for the rebound. It is the weakness of our style. At one point Jordy was singlehandedly guarding two of their guards at the 3 pt stripe and having to run between them because no one else could close or was in the correct position. We will run into a tourney team which shoots well from the outside and can exploit that weakness.

Rae is obviously not back. She has never had a good handle, but she seems very stiff in the legs to me and it exacerbates that problem. She has always had that newborn foal type of look with her legs splaying out, but she is clearly not all the way back and her chemistry with the team is not there yet. Fast guards who play good defense exploit her and she doesn't adjust her game to match the opponent and her current condition. Has to be frustrating for her, but she needs to let the game come to her.

We have a lot of strengths, but what tonight shows is that we are capable of really stinking up the joint like we did under Holly and those days are not completely behind us.

The big challenge for the team now is whether they let this loss get in their heads or whether they make it an anomaly. I figured we would drop one down the stretch in the SEC and SC would be for the championship. But now I just don't see us winning out given the nature of this loss. We will see just how resilient the team really is now.

Good points about Burrell: She did not look like she was moving well, and was not featured in the offense despite being a 47 percent shooter. With Green gone this team badly needs a healthy and productive Burrell.

 

[turbovol]

Honestly looking to next year more so than this year. We're an Elite 8 team this year if we play well but next year we should be a legitimate title contender. Piscott, Horston, and Key will anchor with Miles and Darby only getting better. If we get the the transfer from Miss St. We'll absolutely smoke teams.

Miles and Darby, who don't play much at all, and a true freshman are going to lead us to a national title, along with Key and Horston? Wishful thinking....

 

[Darth_Vol]

Pretty simple, if you don't have a point guard you aren't going to make a deep run in March...

 

[SGMVols]

Miles and Darby, who don't play much at all, and a true freshman are going to lead us to a national title, along with Key and Horston? Wishful thinking....

Darby and national title can’t coexist in the same sentence. She would’ve been either a walk on or a manager on our last national title team.

 

[Darth_Vol]

Darby and national title can’t coexist in the same sentence. She would’ve been either a walk on or a manager on our last national title team.

They were 17-1 when Darby starts! What the hell was Kellie thinking???

 

[Hallie]

Sloppy play .. 22 TO'S versus only 9 assists .. fundamentals beat them .. they thought they didn't have to show up ....

 

[VolFuture]

With Key to make up for our poor defense. This team is average at best. Green provided that depth. I’m uncertain they have a player who can step up

 

[JBB1985]

Tenn = Icarus?

 

[Dak1219]

Does anyone have the plus minus on the game.......I cant find it for some reason

 

[NeedOrange]

I am hearing a lot of complaints about turnovers. But I think the game was lost on the offensive glass. You had 22 TO's tonight and 21 against Ga. and 18 against Kentucky. So 22 is not egregious compared to recent games.

But where the Lady Vols dominate is on the offensive glass. Against Georgia you missed 43 shots and rebounded 20 of those or 46% of your misses. Against Kentucky you missed 37 shots and rebounded 21 or 56% . Tonight you missed 29 shots and rebounded 11 or 37%.

You can look at it as if an offensive rebound cancels out a turnover. A turnover is a lost opportunity to score and an offensive rebound is an extra opportunity to score. Typically Lady Vol turnovers are canceled by the offensive rebounding. Tonight you were -11 in the ORB to TO and Auburn had 13 more shots that were the difference in the game.

 

[chuckiepoo]

I am hearing a lot of complaints about turnovers. But I think the game was lost on the offensive glass. You had 22 TO's tonight and 21 against Ga. and 18 against Kentucky. So 22 is not egregious compared to recent games.

But where the Lady Vols dominate is on the offensive glass. Against Georgia you missed 43 shots and rebounded 20 of those or 46% of your misses. Against Kentucky you missed 37 shots and rebounded 21 or 56% . Tonight you missed 29 shots and rebounded 11 or 37%.

You can look at it as if an offensive rebound cancels out a turnover. A turnover is a lost opportunity to score and an offensive rebound is an extra opportunity to score. Typically Lady Vol turnovers are canceled by the offensive rebounding. Tonight you were -11 in the ORB to TO and Auburn had 13 more shots that were the difference in the game.

…sleep walking

 

[VolFuture]

I am hearing a lot of complaints about turnovers. But I think the game was lost on the offensive glass. You had 22 TO's tonight and 21 against Ga. and 18 against Kentucky. So 22 is not egregious compared to recent games.

But where the Lady Vols dominate is on the offensive glass. Against Georgia you missed 43 shots and rebounded 20 of those or 46% of your misses. Against Kentucky you missed 37 shots and rebounded 21 or 56% . Tonight you missed 29 shots and rebounded 11 or 37%.

You can look at it as if an offensive rebound cancels out a turnover. A turnover is a lost opportunity to score and an offensive rebound is an extra opportunity to score. Typically Lady Vol turnovers are canceled by the offensive rebounding. Tonight you were -11 in the ORB to TO and Auburn had 13 more shots that were the difference in the game.

Looking at the last few games I was worried about this too

 

[GameTime]

Tenn = Icarus?

It does look like we flew to close to the sun and got burned....It happens sometimes.

 

[glv98]

I am hearing a lot of complaints about turnovers. But I think the game was lost on the offensive glass. You had 22 TO's tonight and 21 against Ga. and 18 against Kentucky. So 22 is not egregious compa ared to recent games.

But where the Lady Vols dominate is on the offensive glass. Against Georgia you missed 43 shots and rebounded 20 of those or 46% of your misses. Against Kentucky you missed 37 shots and rebounded 21 or 56% . Tonight you missed 29 shots and rebounded 11 or 37%.

You can look at it as if an offensive rebound cancels out a turnover. A turnover is a lost opportunity to score and an offensive rebound is an extra opportunity to score. Typically Lady Vol turnovers are canceled by the offensive rebounding. Tonight you were -11 in the ORB to TO and Auburn had 13 more shots that were the difference in the game.

You could also look at it as if we didn't lose the possession to a turnover we wouldn't need the offensive rebound to make up for it. Let's not have to compensate. But we have been doing exactly that all season, trying to outscore and out rebound our t.o.s. It was bound to catch up with us. The two Jordans and Rae just have to cut down turnovers. Period.

 

[Coach Jumper]

I am hearing a lot of complaints about turnovers. But I think the game was lost on the offensive glass. You had 22 TO's tonight and 21 against Ga. and 18 against Kentucky. So 22 is not egregious compared to recent games.

But where the Lady Vols dominate is on the offensive glass. Against Georgia you missed 43 shots and rebounded 20 of those or 46% of your misses. Against Kentucky you missed 37 shots and rebounded 21 or 56% . Tonight you missed 29 shots and rebounded 11 or 37%.

You can look at it as if an offensive rebound cancels out a turnover. A turnover is a lost opportunity to score and an offensive rebound is an extra opportunity to score. Typically Lady Vol turnovers are canceled by the offensive rebounding. Tonight you were -11 in the ORB to TO and Auburn had 13 more shots that were the difference in the game.

9-0 run to end q1 turned into a 32-11 run by end of half...no timeouts. I don't get "no taking a timeout to try to stop a run",,,never will,,,to me, that is one of the weapons a coach has...4 timeouts-2 in-game, 2 end-game

 

[madtownvol]

Swarming defenses again cause problems for the LVs. Too much dribbling and not enough off the ball movement. Overall, the team looked badly out of synch. Horston played well, Walker had her moment and not much else. This was a game where Dye needed to have more presence. Maybe Puckett should have had more minutes she seemed more locked in than most.

Defensively, they looked much less cohesive than usual. I would point to the loss of Green but they were just as porous with Key on the floor.

As noted, Rae looked like Rae of earlier days. It seems like her body is not quite ready to do what her mind wants. i would have rather seen her take a few pull up jumpers than driving in, falling down, and bouncing the out of boards off her leg.
But all that really matters is she really back by tournament time.

Reality, Saunders has a limited range of situations where she can be effective. Her reflexes are really slow so, outside of situations that call for bang and bump defensive post play, she is not going to be the answer for back-up. I think its time to give Striplin her run.

I am chalking this one off mainly to a bad night and look for a big bounce back on sunday. The made their SEC road tougher but they are still in the race.

 

[Aladywhovolunteer]

I thought our coaching staff should have used a time out in the first quarter after we had gotten a 15 to 7 lead and then proceeded to have 6 ( I think) consecutive turnovers. When we jumped out to a 10 to 4 lead Auburn's coach called time out to demand better defense. It worked. Our ladies begin to fail to execute their offense after Auburn's time out. A quick time out to reestablish roles and slow the game down may have helped. Hind sight is always 20/20 but when Key left in the first quarter the team got out of synch and needed guidance.


I also thought Miles did not play well. She let an Auburn player drive the length of the court and score at the buzzer at the end of the third quarter. A critical play for momentum. Between Miles and Waker, I don't believe we ever had a correct switch at the point while playing man to man. That's why we went to a zone. However, pick your poison, It's difficult to box out in a zone and we gave up way too many second chance points, especially while Key was on the bench. Most screens at the high post left a wide open shooter and our two guards confused on their responsibility.

 

[madtownvol]

I thought our coaching staff should have used a time out in the first quarter after we had gotten a 15 to 7 lead and then proceeded to have 6 ( I think) consecutive turnovers. When we jumped out to a 10 to 4 lead Auburn's coach called time out to demand better defense. It worked. Our ladies begin to fail to execute their offense after Auburn's time out. A quick time out to reestablish roles and slow the game down may have helped. Hind sight is always 20/20 but when Key left in the first quarter the team got out of synch and needed guidance.


I also thought Miles did not play well. She let an Auburn player drive the length of the court and score at the buzzer at the end of the third quarter. A critical play for momentum. Between Miles and Waker, I don't believe we ever had a correct switch at the point while playing man to man. That's why we went to a zone. However, pick your poison, It's difficult to box out in a zone and we gave up way too many second chance points, especially while Key was on the bench. Most screens at the high post left a wide open shooter and our two guards confused on their responsibility.

Good points all. That lay-up drive at the end was a blow. Miles should have kept her in front, costly freshman mistake....

 

[BowlBrother85]

Embarrassing. Could this serve as a wake up call and a much needed reality check? Maybe ... but as of right now? It's just embarrassing.

 

[VolBalls33]

When you are favored by 18.5 and lose by 10 that's just inexcusable. Sure it's basketball and bad games happen, especially on the road. But not a winless Auburn team who had what 23 straight SEC losses.
And again why not call a timeout or 2 when the other team is making such a big run? That's just not good coaching.

 

[BowlBrother85]

When you are favored by 18.5 and lose by 10 that's just inexcusable. Sure it's basketball and bad games happen, especially on the road. But not a winless Auburn team who had what 23 straight SEC losses.
And again why not call a timeout or 2 when the other team is making such a big run? That's just not good coaching.

It's the kind of thing that we used to give Holly Warlick hell over... and with KJH, you really do have to say the same thing. Her team was unprepared to play tonight, and Kellie didn't appear to be fully invested either. Damn, this is embarrassing.

 

[10cpride]

Laziness is the common denominator for the lost tonight. They got out played in every aspect of the game. They better correct their turnover issue or it's going to cost them more games.

 

[Aladywhovolunteer]

Good points all. That lay-up drive at the end was a blow. Miles should have kept her in front, costly freshman mistake....

Mad...Brooklyn played that drive like a football cornerback plays two deep coverage. At the foul line she stopped guarding... I guess relying on Safety (Key) help or she had explicit instructions not to foul and gambled on clock experation. But you just came have that kind of breakdown. That was a momentum shifting play...up by three and the buzzer beater cuts it to one. Yes a freshman mistake, which she will learn from.

 

[GameTime]

Generally, basic basketball coaching 101 does call for a time out by the coach when your team is getting "severely out played" by an opponent, especially if that opponent was an 18 point underdog...

This club was stressed out by the loss of Green, not that she would have calmed all the waters, but damn fans, our girls needed some kind of emotional relief that Coach Kellie could have provided...But, for some reason only known to her, she chose not to take a time out, but instead just watched it happen like we did.

A strategically called time out can be a valuable coaching tool.