The Official #12 Tennessee vs. Cincinnati Game Thread, 12:30 PM ET, SEC Network Alt

[1985Vols]

Springer has a bit of ball hog mentality it looks like

Nope, just aggressive. Personally I love it. He and Keon are ballers. Best two freshmen we’ve had play together since Ernie and Bernie.

 

[Voltopia]

There's already been a number of times in these first two games (well, 1.5 games) when Keon Johnson does a thing and I think "Huh, so that's what those five stars get ya. Neat-o." I'm glad Tennessee is made up of all kinds of players, but I can't deny being wowed sometimes by that little extra gear of talent Johnson kicks into.

 

[Creeker]

Ugly at times, but not an awful half. Defense looks really good. Seem to be rebounding better than last game. We are attacking the zone and getting into the middle well, just not always making the best decisions when we do.

 

[Rickyvol77]

LOL. Jumping the gun a bit given we are in the first half of game 2?

We are clearly a top ten team

 

[Rickyvol77]

How about these refs put the Cinci coach on the damned bench. Guy is 5 feet on the floor and almost to half court. Sick of seeing his a$$ during the game action.

Agreed. One time he was out at the three point line while we were on offense

 

[1985Vols]

I'll take a 6 point lead at half

Should be able to pull away in 2nd half. Win by 12+

 

[ColinS]

Florida's best player in critical condition after collapsing on the floor.

 

[Rickyvol77]

Ugly at times, but not an awful half. Defense looks really good. Seem to be rebounding better than last game. We are attacking the zone and getting into the middle well, just not always making the best decisions when we do.

If we hit our easy shots we would be up by 30

 

[The Dog]

Tennessee is 2-12 on layups. 10-33 from the field overall.

If we shoot 35%, which isn't good, we are up by double digits.

 

[PulaskiVolFan]

Crazy!! Our shooting percentage is significantly worse than Cincy's but we are up 6

That's exactly why defense wins championships. We're as good as anyone in the country at defending the perimeter. I know I've said it before but JJJ/Keon/Springer/Pons is the best group of peremiter defense we've ever had in Knoxville.

 

[Freak]

Agreed. One time he was out at the three point line while we were on offense

I didn't notice him, but I wish they'd just enforce that rule and keep the coaches in the box.

 

[volinbama256]

Tennessee is 2-12 on layups. 10-33 from the field overall.

This is what worries me.... Yes I know it's early in the season and we've barely practiced and just getting warmed up, but these are easy layups and short pull-up jump shots we aren't making.... A LOT of the them. I get a few here and there, but this team is definitely struggling to make the shots that should be automatic. We should easily be up by 10 or more with just a few more made.
Don't get me started on how many free-throws we've missed already... sheesh.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

I guarantee you Barnes told Springer to take the ball straight to the hoop. The whole team cleared out. That had nothing to do with selfishness.

 

[walkenvol]

My halftime thoughts;
- how long can it continue with the entire team consistently missing point blank shots?
- Keon is going to be fun to watch this season
- the offensive flow is clearly better with SV running point
- wish I could see what CRB sees to justify ON’s minutes

 

[Lankykong]

Florida's best player in critical condition after collapsing on the floor.

Wow, definitely praying for him

 

[1985Vols]

This is what worries me.... Yes I know it's early in the season and we've barely practiced and just getting warmed up, but these are easy layups and short pull-up jump shots we aren't making.... A LOT of the them. I get a few here and there, but this team is definitely struggling to make the shots that should be automatic. We should easily be up by 10 or more with just a few more made.
Don't get me started on how many free-throws we've missed already... sheesh.

Chill, this is a Final 4 four team. Just getting the rust knocked off. We’ll be fine

 

[The Dog]

Florida's best player in critical condition after collapsing on the floor.

Prayers, I don't want another Reggie Lewis, Hank Gathers, scenario. If he has Covid, I could see the rest of the season being cancelled

 

[Larkin]

I like the aggressiveness on defense
They play hard
I’d rather the defense be there. They will settle down on the scoring, these are good players. For some reason the basket has a lid on it. Crazy to see so many drop in shots miss

 

[Lankykong]

My halftime thoughts;
- how long can it continue with the entire team consistently missing point blank shots?
- Keon is going to be fun to watch this season
- the offensive flow is clearly better with SV running point
- wish I could see what CRB sees to justify ON’s minutes

May be trying to give ORN competitive minutes in case of the worst case scenario next year, where all the big men leave. If Fulk, Anosike, and Pons left, our frontcourt is basically empty

 

[volsarelife1]

Nope, just aggressive. Personally I love it. He and Keon are ballers. Best two freshmen we’ve had play together since Ernie and Bernie.

Oh I love the aggressiveness! Been a while since we've had that. Just once he learns when to be aggressive and not he's going to be unstoppable.

Keon may be the best player on the team already

 

[1985Vols]

There's already been a number of times in these first two games (well, 1.5 games) when Keon Johnson does a thing and I think "Huh, so that's what those five stars get ya. Neat-o." I'm glad Tennessee is made up of all kinds of players, but I can't deny being wowed sometimes by that little extra gear of talent Johnson kicks into.

If JJJ had Johnson’s confidence and attitude, I truly believe he could play like that as well.

 

[Larkin]

At some point we are gonna need another post player to step up.

To be fair, their 2 bigs are a goose egg right now with 3 fouls a piece. That ain’t bad

 

[PulaskiVolFan]

You have to assume Pons isn't going to shoot 8 percent on the season. So it should get better soon.

Pons is doing great I feel, no need to worry about his offense much, that's kinda like worrying if Dennis Rodman was going to score 10 points in a game he played, Pons is playing his role to a T and like you say, shots will eventually fall, he'll have a few high outputs this year. Who cares what he does vs teams we're most likely gonna beat without needing him to score.

 

[Namorto1]

Tennessee is 2-12 on layups. 10-33 from the field overall.

Yeah we have missed at least 5 bunnies. Should be up double digits.

 

[ALStateLineVol]

Nope, just aggressive. Personally I love it. He and Keon are ballers. Best two freshmen we’ve had since Ernie and Bernie.

I like the aggressiveness but Springer needs to learn when to find the open player. He is great at driving into the paint but when the defense collapses on him, he has to learn to find his open teammate. Don't keep taking a contested shot against 2-3 opposing players. This isn't HS anymore. Once he learns this, which I think he will, teams won't be as aggressive in collapsing on him.