Tennessee vs South Carolina Official game thread (6:30 SECN)

[D3Athlete]

Tennessee made South Carolina defense look “great” because of the missed bunnies. Tennessee makes them, it makes South Carolina have to shrink their defense in the paint and help more. Instead miss them, and Tennessee gets to out of sort and starting offense away from the Rim.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

You are out of your mind regarding officiating does not effect the outcome!!!! I'll leave it at that.
The referees were clearly in our players head. And Barnes made every effort to talk them, but he knew his limitations.

I didn't say it never does. But go ahead and put words in my mouth. I said it affects the outcome less than people think. It did not have an outcome on the result tonight. We played at home, where we normally outhustle, and beat up on people. Make shots, set the tone, etc. We didn't do any of that tonight.

 

[tnvols72]

JJJ cant shoot, Vescovi just wants to dribble in the paint and look to pass it off. ZZ cant get out of his own way. Its up to DK and Aidoo if he is on. Tn is playing 2 on 5 on the offfensive end. Vescovi is what disappoints me more than they JJJ, we know JJJ cant shoot but Vescovi looks lost out their on offense.

 

[2EastTnVols]

**12th year senior, former 5 star recruit, JJJ

Yall cut him some slack. He is like 40

 

[vavolfan6]

It's a chicken/egg thing. TBA rarely gets up for a mid-week game as a double-digit favorite. The crowd expected to get the win and sat silent until the last 2 minutes. Inexcusable.

I just don't understand what you are complaining for. Does it make any difference? Its not the fans fault we missed 10 point blank layups. Its not the fans fault we missed free throws. Its not the fans fault we only had 3 three point shots made up until the end of the game. Its not the fans fault the rest of the players outside of Dalton continue to struggle on offense.

We were playing good enough defense to win. Fans wanted any semblence of offense and I'm sure they would have cheered loudly. They always have.

 

[Zues1]

Not the first Vol to peak early on and gradually disappear throughout their career. By no means am I saying it's a widespread problem, there are plenty of examples counter to that point.

Yep , it's been a trend in Knoxville for sometime

 

[keckjm]

Agree but Barnes is too much in love with him. He would sit Knecht before he sit JJJJJJJJ

Sad part is, I’m not sure this wouldn’t happen. I think we all need to truly appreciate Barnes. It can be a LOT worse, but the dude has a man crush on JJJ. Personally, I’d take my chances with the FR guards and live with the bone head plays they’ll inevitably make. Playing JJJ right now means 4 on 5 basketball on offense. When JJJ is off, he’s way off.

 

[D3Athlete]

Fine as in making the round of 32 or sweet 16? Probably. But home losses like this do not bode well for anything better....

It happens. It’s college basketball. Look at UConn last year. They had loses like. Tennessee just gotta learn from it and then throw out of mind. Get ready for next game. Losing 1 game like this doesn’t change the ceiling of these team.

 

[OrngeJuiceJones]

Yep, people like Basilio can chill on the national player of the year talk. He’s incredible, of course, but you can’t be trash at the line like that and expect to beat Edey in that race.

He had over 30... Again. He was NOT the problem.

 

[EasternVol]

Yep, people like Basilio can chill on the national player of the year talk. He’s incredible, of course, but you can’t be trash at the line like that and expect to beat Edey in that race.

It's one game.

 

[hound dog hillbil]

Typical let down,but why

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

If he guy claiming 12 charity free throws didn’t affect a one possession game thinks my argument is weak. Lol okay…

What about the gazillion layups we missed? If we make the shots around the basket we normally make, and some more free throws, it's a double digit win for us. Wanting the refs to fill In the gaps for us where we are off our game is some middle school sissy like attitude.

 

[Johnnyreb#VFL]

He had over 30... Again. He was NOT the problem.

He is not but whenever the other guys are standing around looking at him to do something, that is a problem

 

[OrangeInKy]

He had over 30... Again. He was NOT the problem.

Find where I said he was the problem. Show me. I said he missed big free throws and he won’t beat Edey for player of the year when he can’t hit free throws in a game like this.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

It's one game.

It is...and we have a chance to respond. Doubt it happens Saturday though.

 

[aWhiteLoftonChism]

We just don’t seem to be able to win close games. This is painful

I agree. It has been an issue
that I hope averages out this year.
This one hurts for sure

 

[kell7517]

Remove Santi's night and it gets even worse...

6-27 FG (22.2%)
0-9 3pt (0.0%)
6-10 FT (60.0%)

Whatever is hampering JJJ is really killing his offense, hasn't scored double digits in a game since before Christmas. 3.6 ppg over the last 8 and he's playing over 26 mpg.

Didn’t Knecht make 2 threes in the second half? Or are you taking Santi and Knecht 3’s away?

 

[vavolfan6]

We missed way too many easy inside shots. Layups. At some point someone else is gonna have to step up offensively for this team. I mean how many games would we have actually win this year without DK?

I'd like to think we have other guys who could step up and shoot in his absence, but all of them have seemed to just put it all on Dalton with the streak he is on. Afterall, we've been averaging near 80 points a game. But tonight it was abysmal as we didn't break 60.

 

[IndianapolisVol]

Serious question for the group, though. Has JJJ ever lived up to the hype you’d expect from a McDonald’s All-American?

Personally I say no. I wouldn’t put him in the Robert Hubbs category, but I’d put him a step below Scotty Hopson.

With his skill set he could be great in a point forward role a la Tyler Smith, but he just doesn’t seem to have that killer instinct.

 

[chuckiepoo]

Fine as in making the round of 32 or sweet 16? Probably. But home losses like this do not bode well for anything better....

Serious? Home upsets by top ten teams? Dude, that’s like serious drip… Gotta give blood…

 

[OrangeInKy]

It's one game.

Oh is it? I thought it was 4 games. And actually, his free throw shooting was bad Saturday too. It’s okay to think he’s incredible and the key to our success and also think his free throw shooting should be better. I simply said he won’t win national player of the year if that doesn’t get fixed.

 

[Cdywolfe]

What about the gazillion layups we missed? If we make the shots around the basket we normally make, and some more free throws, it's a double digit win for us. Wanting the refs to fill In the gaps for us where we are off our game is some middle school sissy like attitude.

So competent officiating = filling gaps for us?

 

[VolsAgainstTheWorld15]

Going back to DK being Batman looking for a Robin…Santi has to be Robin. Aidoo is normally decent, but I don’t think he’s a viable number two scorer on a consistent basis. I know Santi is selfless and has been willing to take a secondary role. To some extent, he still should be in a secondary scoring role, but the days of him passing up an open three to dribble and pass need to stop after tonight. This team needs him to be more assertive. DK will benefit from that.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

Serious question for the group, though. Has JJJ ever lived up to the hype you’d expect from a McDonald’s All-American?

Personally I say no. I wouldn’t put him in the Robert Hubbs category, but I’d put him a step below Scotty Hopson.

With his skill set he could be great in a point forward role a la Tyler Smith, but he just doesn’t seem to have that killer instinct.

Agree 100% on all points. Nailed it.

 

[chuckiepoo]

Tennessee made South Carolina defense look “great” because of the missed bunnies. Tennessee makes them, it makes South Carolina have to shrink their defense in the paint and help more. Instead miss them, and Tennessee gets to out of sort and starting offense away from the Rim.

Disappointed by Aidoo. Dude has to nut up and get it.