Game Thread Lady Vols at the JUNKANOO JAM

#402
#402
We won but it was an ugly win. I am glad we won and hope this was a fluke that UAB played so well or we played so worse. We have some things to cleanup.
 
#405
#405
I don’t care how ugly it was, as long as we got the win. Every top team has been tested early season by teams they have no business being tested by, but still came out with the W!

I’m ready to see how we fair against tougher competition.

I’m impressed by KK’s play during this tournament. She needs that for confidence because we’re going to need her as the season progresses!

Holly and the staff have to notice that we shouldn’t be playing KK and Green at the same time, it just isn’t effective. I know Davis doesn’t prefer the post but we need her at that spot in order to be successful and spread the floor. I say start Green and tell her to use her quickness to get to the basket. That’s one reason why I loved Annie.....she was quick and got to the basket and either made the ****, turned it over, or got fouled....either way, it put pressure on the opposing teams because having a guard that’s effective with the dribble drive can open up tonsss of shots for the rest of the team.
 
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#406
#406
FrozenLVFan said:
Hopefully this near-loss is a wake-up call to the entire team and coaching staff. Our decision-making, man-to-man defense, FT shooting are all at about high school level.
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No offense, but reading that paragraph was the worst part of my day. I was hoping we could all avoid the dreaded "Lady Vol Groundhog Day" scenario, but only five games in it could already be happening! :eek:
 
#407
#407
This is a 2nd sign, and escape loose game to them. I guarantee u guys, next game if they don't wake up that's it.
 
#408
#408
E and Davis play down the stretch, is what this team needs to see more of.

KK more game time please. London bounce back. Meme wuteva?
 
#410
#410
I remember a poster commenting on how poor the team’s footwork was in man to man defense and it nearly cost us today.

Coaches and players: work on defensive footwork & assignments, and please call in Coach Barnes to assist with free throw shooting. Maybe he can be our free throw consultant and add to his paycheck.
 
#411
#411
WE WON!

This ladies fought the whole game.

This team can get so much better. We all have mentioned a few areas of improvement.

But they didn't quit and they got stops when they needed em.

We are so young.
 
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#412
#412
How can a player be allowed to go 1-7 from the line and still be in the game during crunch time? Ive been saying this since day 1. Westbrook as the lead guard will not benefit this team. Next yr do you force a line up of Westbrook & Massengill when you know Horston & Massengill will be a better duo? Evina needs to work on her game being the same player after your freshmen yr is not acceptable. Thats on coach as well.
 
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#413
#413
Pat4life said:
or she's using this as an opportunity to instill trust and confidence in mercurial lead guard.

Aye this game is yours to win or lose, Evina. You made some big buckets to get us her, bring us home.

So you can look at another way too.
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You’re right, two sides to every coin, but I believe trust in that situation is something you must earn. If you can’t be trusted to make the shots then you’re sitting beside coach. You earn the trust to shoot those free throws the other 44 minutes of that game.
 
#414
#414
I also want to say that I may be negative towards players sometimes, but I do love every player on this team. It is just frustrating to no end to watch such talented women underachieve.
 
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#416
#416
This game was .... Uhmm interesting. The plus I will find is that KK seems to be coming along better than the beginning of the year. She seems more like a force. I doubt she will ever be a 20-10 girl in the post but if she can be reliable that’s a HUGE PLUS. Also listening to the radio she had a big block and some big girl rebounds that helped turn the game around.

I agree with another poster. Westbrook shouldn’t have had the ball in her hands at the end of the game. I would have chosen Davis or Meme (if available my freakin live stats froze and the radio went in and out 😡 ... I want Davis to develop that takeover mentality and know it’s ok to demand the ball. She had a super quiet 18 points but you almost feel like she could have had 28.

Welp at least this team doesn’t roll over and quit when things get rough like some of the recent ones.
 
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#417
#417
We won because we were in better condition!
We won because Davis made three three’s in the fourth quarter!
We won in overtime because we played defense and they couldn’t get shots off! We won in OT because KK got rebounds and blocked shots! We were lucky to win... Just Saying

After looking back,..... another key to our win was in overtime their player shooting 89% from the foul line missed 2 foul shots with the score tied..... this was an important window to the victory!
 
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#418
#418
There was a lot of teams tested this weekend by teams that should not have challenged them. This game was no different. This team has identified some great opportunities where they can improve not the least of which is foul shooting. I'm disappointed that our point guard is not shooting foul shots better than she is.
 
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#419
#419
Maybe she makes them in practice.

You know as a coach this could be her mental block, which preventing her from being elite, the game is 90% mental and 10% physical and she is a thinker, perfectionist.

Once the game was over, and you take a look at the big picture, which I think most of the coaches do, we as fans our view is much narrower.

And the long run this game prolly helped E, more than it hurt her, its hurt us the fans having to watch it, probably was a good thing Holly leaving E in, all the players got to see E fight through adversity, she could have given up, asked to be taken out, now E knows she can do it, and stepped up and knocked down 50% down the stretch, but her play and defense was solid the last 10 minutes of the game. Holly is building a team, its not always built in 5 games or one game, but for the fans, that one game is our moment.

But she grew up today. We saw Kasi grow up today. We saw Davis grow up a lil today. But our curve is high!
 
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#420
#420
VA_VOLFAN said:
This game was .... Uhmm interesting. The plus I will find is that KK seems to be coming along better than the beginning of the year. She seems more like a force. I doubt she will ever be a 20-10 girl in the post but if she can be reliable that’s a HUGE PLUS. Also listening to the radio she had a big block and some big girl rebounds that helped turn the game around.

I agree with another poster. Westbrook shouldn’t have had the ball in her hands at the end of the game. I would have chosen Davis or Meme (if available my freakin live stats froze and the radio went in and out 😡 ... I want Davis to develop that takeover mentality and know it’s ok to demand the ball. She had a super quiet 18 points but you almost feel like she could have had 28.

Welp at least this team doesn’t roll over and quit when things get rough like some of the recent ones.
Click to expand...

I am so on the same page. Davis IS a takeover kind of player, if I were Holly I’d be inbounding the ball to her, she’s got the handles and athleticism to make a move all by herself.

And it was a quiet 18, she should have the ball in her hands significantly more than any other player. Even when she doesn’t score she generally penetrates and makes a nice pass to the opposite post for a wide open layup, or kicks it out to Meme on the opposite wing for a wide open 3 and gets in good O-board position. She’s the only player this season that consistently makes good decisions with the basketball. She’s a star and should be treated like one.

Just like Pat used to have Candace bring the ball up and run the offense, that’s what I’d like to see, I’m not sure she has the attitude for that, but she certainly has the basketball IQ.
 
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#421
#421
I was surprised after Holly’s time out we have E taking the ball and penetrating on the player guarding her because of the height advantage in our favor? And we did this twice and E missed both lay ups plus most of the foul shots !!!! This was not good strategy but we won somehow? Jaz did the same thing late in the fourth quarter and she missed the shots also? But we won ..... what do I know 🤷‍♂️
 
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#422
#422
VA_VOLFAN said:
This game was .... Uhmm interesting. The plus I will find is that KK seems to be coming along better than the beginning of the year. She seems more like a force. I doubt she will ever be a 20-10 girl in the post but if she can be reliable that’s a HUGE PLUS. Also listening to the radio she had a big block and some big girl rebounds that helped turn the game around.

I agree with another poster. Westbrook shouldn’t have had the ball in her hands at the end of the game. I would have chosen Davis or Meme (if available my freakin live stats froze and the radio went in and out 😡 ... I want Davis to develop that takeover mentality and know it’s ok to demand the ball. She had a super quiet 18 points but you almost feel like she could have had 28.

Welp at least this team doesn’t roll over and quit when things get rough like some of the recent ones.
Click to expand...

This is no different than recent teams. You do recall we won in OT vs Marquette at this event last year.

We have a habit of gutting out games against teams we should easily beat while playing bad defense, or turning the ball over or shooting poorly from the FT line. These issues are never corrected and then we lose games against quality opponents and fans wonder what’s happening.

The season is early but our team has issues that we need to correct in order to have a successful season.
 
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#423
#423
While they are a mid major team they are predicted to win conference USA (over Rice and Middle Tn) they have 9 players with at least 2 years experience on the D1 level ( 1 Red shirt sophomore and a slew of juniors and seniors).

Not saying this is any excuse however we will be running into another top midmajor team later in the year (Belmont espn has them ranked 3 in their top kid major polls). A different style of b-ball that we are used too. I guess another positive is seeing this type of team now that we may run into the tourney later? Clemson handled OU so this may have been a better test for the ladies.
 
#424
#424
Rennia needs to be aggressive from the start of the game and hunting for shots. If our bigs miss early chippies it change the whole complexion of the game for our young team.

London and Kasi have to knock down early shots, we play much better.
 
#425
#425
This team beat Oklahoma which was pick to finish 4 or 5 in their league.

We started the season 15-0? last year.
 
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