The Official #12 Tennessee vs. North Carolina State Game Thread, 10:00 PM ET, ESPN2

[OrngeJuiceJones]

Just wait til baseball season bro. It’s almost time!

No sir. Let's party now.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

This offense is just different. A breathe of fresh air.

 

[D3Athlete]

What was Knecht's problem?

Nc state crowded the paint when he drove and he wasn’t strong with the ball.

 

[volbound1700]

Good win, this team keeps improving week after week

 

[PEPPERJAX]

What was Knecht's problem?

NC state frustrated him all night. Their game plan was to shut him down offensively and it worked. Even when he had the ball he forced everything. Better days ahead for DK.

 

[BruisedOrange]

I’m rarely negative. But this game had no business being so close down the stretch. We are a lot more talented than this team.

I'll have to disagree, because our big advantage over NCSt was Aidoo's ability to run the court on Burns. But Aidoo's illness drained him and negated that advantage.

A bad night from Knecht, and now we're forced to invent a way on the court to cobble out a win.

ZZ, JJJ, Mashack, and Awaka upped their games to make it happen.

 

[Drewbydoo]

This is what other coaches will note about this team/game: Neutralize 2 of Tenn's best players, so they adjust and get 21 pts from the bench.

This kind of win removes confidence from teams attempting to prepare for Tenn. There's a lot of value to a win like this.

 

[Kosmalski]

Nc state crowded the paint when he drove and he wasn’t strong with the ball.

He got hammered a few times with no call

Refs called nothing first half most everything second half

 

[turbovol]

Bizarre box score for us in this game--getting almost no scoring from Aidoo and Knecht, and not much from Vescovi. Nice to win
by 9 anyway.

 

[JCP201]

Nc state crowded the paint when he drove and he wasn’t strong with the ball.

Same with Aidoo. I know Aidoo had been sick, but wondering if Knecht didn't have a bug too? That may have been his worst outing ever.

 

[OrangeInKy]

great win!! I appreciate that Barnes saw that his star Knecht and Aidoo were off tonight and played the hot hands. Awaka, Maschack, ZZ, JJJ, and Vescovi.

Knecht May be dealing with the flu stuff as well. I haven’t heard but that, but would explain a lot.

 

[D3Athlete]

He got hammered a few times with no call

Refs called nothing first half most everything second half

You aren’t wrong. It was frustrating.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Time for a breather for this team. Should coast to a 10-3 finish to non-conference play against 2 cupcakes and then a big first game against Ole Miss to open up SEC play.

 

[LadyinOrange]

What was Knecht's problem?

He couldnt Knecht.

 

[ColinS]

What was Knecht's problem?

They were forcing him to start his drives too far out and helping when he got inside. He needs to find the open guy when that going on. NC State's guards were good at pressuring. I think's that's the strength of their team. Decent team.

 

[Drewbydoo]

I'll have to disagree, because our big advantage over NCSt was Aidoo's ability to run the court on Burns. But Aidoo's illness drained him and negated that advantage.

A bad night from Knecht, and now we're forced to invent a way on the court to cobble out a win.

ZZ, JJJ, Mashack, and Awaka upped their games to make it happen.

Knecht face seemed unusually pink or flush. I think he wasn't feeling well and tried to hide it. Flip side, Mashack had a solid game and I was hoping he'd get more minutes and opportunities to shoot.

 

[D3Athlete]

Same with Aidoo. I know Aidoo had been sick, but wondering if Knecht didn't have a bug too? That may have been his worst outing ever.

Knecht wasn’t his normal self against Georgia Southern either. He just needs a get right game. Next 2 games are perfect opportunities. Aidoo def tell he wasn’t close to feeling well. Props to the big man giving what he could.

 

[VolGee4]

People talking about Ole Miss, and I just realized they are 90th at KenPom with a 10-0 record. So much for them being “better.”

 

[KTrain]

Bet it was not with these refs. The early second half foul disparity was awful. The phantom call on Santi shows a presence of bias. Really thought Coach was headed for another technical and that is telling by itself. Nowhere in the book does it allow big guys to displace defenders in a legal guarding position. Burns impressively used all the breaks they gave him.

Yep Burns stiff arm he used with his off hand to clear the way on a sick Aidoo worked but not so much on Awaka 2nd half. If you’d had different refs he would had fouled out or quit doing it. I assume these refs played a lot of street ball no blood no foul.

 

[walkenvol]

No revenge for Burns!

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It’s just a real shame that Burns didn’t stay here and buy into the S&C program like Grant and Admiral. Dude has some serious touch around the basket and could have been really good.

 

[GiveHim6InSC]

Vols overcame:
Late night road game against a good opponent
The Spalding basketball
Foul trouble on key players
Sickness on key players
Fat Albert

This type of win and the one at Michigan State are gonna help big time come March

 

[VolsAgainstTheWorld15]

People talking about Ole Miss, and I just realized they are 90th at KenPom with a 10-0 record. So much for them being “better.”

Definitely not as good as their record indicates, but I have no doubt that Chris Beard will have his guys very well prepared to ugly the game up and see if they can steal a low scoring game at the end.

 

[JCP201]

Knecht wasn’t his normal self against Georgia Southern either. He just needs a get right game. Next 2 games are perfect opportunities. Aidoo def tell he wasn’t close to feeling well. Props to the big man giving what he could.

There is some nasty stuff going around right now. Glad we got two games that shouldn't be as hard and hopefully this viral crud will pass before conference play.

 

[SlyStone]

NC state frustrated him all night. Their game plan was to shut him down offensively and it worked. Even when he had the ball he forced everything. Better days ahead for DK.

Still needs to work on his handle. Stop trying to split defenses when he dribble drives. Not until his handle is better.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Awaka rhymes with Chewbacca. This means he needs more minutes. GBO!