The Official #5 Tennessee vs. Kentucky Game Thread, 12:00 PM ET, ESPN

[ndubvols]

Didn’t play well, is what it is. Too many missed layups and poor rebounding

 

[walkenvol]

I'm Awaka's biggest fan. Why does he never play? He always gets the rebounds.

I like Awaka, but he’s struggling to get minutes since JJJ returned. I’m about ready to move on from ON to Awaka though. Just can’t have such inconsistent results from a senior game to game

 

[I4Vols]

Dont know, dont care. Thats not for me to decide.

You on the wrong fan site

 

[D3Athlete]

BVS
It never fails. Never

 

[GiveHim6InSC]

I had to take the trash off ... Final score?

Lost by 7- 63-56

 

[turbovol]

A loss....followed by the predictable griping about the officials and the announcers.

 

[PanicVol]

We actually really needed this one. We could easily lose 3 out of the next 4.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

At some point I hope Phillips turns the corner. He’s supposed to be a top 15 player.

 

[southgatevol]

Vescovi doesn't like teams being physical with him. This team played timid inside today except Uros..

He gets held and grabbed more than any guard in the conference. You sure?

 

[Vols till I fall]

All I can say is hopefully this embarrasses the team enough on a national level to get better

Saw where Tennessee is the nation's pick to be upset early in the tourney

 

[SouthKnoxVOL]

Tough stretch coming on now with away games at MSU and LSU

 

[southgatevol]

So, how long will it take for Jay Bilas to remove his pointed head from Kentucky's colon? His slanted "anal-ysis" was truly embarassing.

It was BAD!!

 

[volinbama256]

Barnes teams are always weak minded and fragile under pressure, confidence disappears when it doesn't go our way out of the gate... we choke a couple of times a year because the other team is dialed in mentally and has the mental toughness to push through. I hate Calipari, but he was on his team from start to finish, unlike Barnes sitting in his chair watching the game like a fan... How do you go from the last 6-7 games we've played to performing like this at HOME? It's 100% mental and emotional... And Barnes absolutely cannot, and has not, ever coached that aspect up... it is what it is... that is why we won't ever get far in the tourney.

 

[MackDaddyVol]

Boy oh boy—-I hope the team lets this one simmer. They should absolutely be ticked off they let a wounded KY team come in and dictate the game. KY muddied it up and we stepped in it. At least 10pts in bunnies missed. Just bad guard play today. I thought defensively TN played good enough to win. Can’t wait to play them again.

No way in Hades we win in Rupp. This bunch of softies just saved Calipari’s job. And the NEXT punk ass beyotch talking crap about Plavcik needs to come to SC and let me pimpslap them. He came to play.

 

[ColinS]

We had a back and forth a few days ago about who the best player on the team is. JJJ got some love of course. Statistically he is solid. His tendency to disappear in these moments is one of the big reasons I didn't pick him.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

You on the wrong fan site

He said he’d leave if Heupel beat Florida this year…still here.

 

[Orangeblooded615]

I know this is very much about having s deep team but I feel e need JJJ and Phillips to become dominant to make the final four. They shouldn't be disappearing.

 

[vol94]

Serious question, do we not have shooting/layup practices? Year in and year out, we get killed by easy missed shots and layups.

The ironic thing is they did a segment during the first half where Barnes placed tape onto the upper corner of the backboards for layup drills. The players made sure to “hit the tape” with each layup attempt. Our FG % has increased over the last few games since then. It didn’t help today, however.

Uros was the only exception as he is using the glass now. I don’t understand why they stopped going inside. Barnes was yelling on the sideline to feed the ball inside but…..

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Ah, that makes sense. I was wondering where that came from. My bad too then. I like Barnes. Today was frustrating but not his fault.

We missed enough layups in the last 3 minutes to win the game going away. We had and missed open shots from everywhere on the court. I am afraid this team goes not the killer instinct. Offensive rebounding was almost nonexistent. #2 disappeared and #13 reverted to his game of 2 years ago. This is similar to what happened in the NCAAs last year.

 

[Butch s]

Who was just ahead of us in polls?
Where is the $EC home office?

Absolutely right

 

[volinbama256]

I had a bad feeling about this game all week. People called me crazy. People said Kentucky sucks. I knew that Kentucky would play their best game of the season. That loss to South Carolina was rock bottom and we didn’t play focused basketball.

I said the exact same thing... I figure KY would pick this game to get their act together and puckered up like a biotch at HOME and took it...

 

[tdd]

I was at the game, Uros kept us in it. Ziegler missed 6 layups. Kentucky is Kentucky. They are always a talented bunch. They could win 10/12 in a row. We just don’t have enough scorers. When Phillips is not playing well, in foul trouble all day, we really are average. I have been on Uros all year, but he really played well today. Oliver did nothing all day except argue with refs and Barnes. He is at best below average most of the time. Kentucky out played us and Calipari out coached us as well. He worked and cried to refs all day. Maybe we can get better but we are not a 2 seed. A 3/4 at best if we are honest.

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

Vols just aren’t a complete team. Good defense. Inconsistent offense. No SEC mvp type player. Early exit here we come again.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Another reason losing this game hurts is because this is probably the first Tennessee game the media watched all year long because Kentucky was in the game, and now we’re going to have to listen to this garbage from our own fans and media for 6 more weeks.

 

[KB5252]

Call me a troll, I dont care, but this team wont go deep for the same reason they never do. Barnes

I've been critical of Barnes when I thought he deserved it.... But that team out there didn't execute, they played lazy, weak offense. That's on the players, not Barnes.