The Official #6 Tennessee vs. #14 Mississippi State Game Thread, 7:00 PM ET, ESPN2

[orangemadam]

Starting to get a little concerned over Igor.
Still looks hesitant on shooting, not going to the rim enough.
Had hoped he would be progressing at a better rate by now. Tough 2 weeks coming up.
Hope Felix continues his upward trend, offsetting Igor lack of progress.

 

[CornbreadVol]

Starting to get a little concerned over Igor.
Still looks hesitant on shooting, not going to the rim enough.
Had hoped he would be progressing at a better rate by now. Tough 2 weeks coming up.
Hope Felix continues his upward trend, offsetting Igor lack of progress.

I don’t understand why he isn’t more aggressive driving to the rim. He often has a mismatch in terms of quickness but rarely uses it.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

Lost the second half

BONUS troll points for this one.

 

[orbs son]

I don’t understand why he isn’t more aggressive driving to the rim. He often has a mismatch in terms of quickness but rarely uses it.

Seems like when he goes to the rim, he gets hit but never gets the call.

 

[sami]

Starting to get a little concerned over Igor.
Still looks hesitant on shooting, not going to the rim enough.

I don’t understand why he isn’t more aggressive driving to the rim. He often has a mismatch in terms of quickness but rarely uses it.

Igor adds so much defensively and on the boards that he doesn't need to be a huge factor offensively to be important to this team, but if Rick could get him to just go to the rack instead of pulling up and passing back out it might get him jump started.

He has had a lot of no calls at the rim when there has been contact, but getting a few easy baskets or getting to the line would help collapse the defense and further free up the perimeter shooters. To me, that is the biggest missing piece right now.

 

[walkenvol]

Igor adds so much defensively and on the boards that he doesn't need to be a huge factor offensively to be important to this team, but if Rick could get him to just go to the rack instead of pulling up and passing back out it might get him jump started.

He has had a lot of no calls at the rim when there has been contact, but getting a few easy baskets or getting to the line would help collapse the defense and further free up the perimeter shooters. To me, that is the biggest missing piece right now.

Good points but I can’t agree with your first sentence. As usual, our short coming when we lose is typically scoring. I believe for this team to reach its potential and make a deep run in the tourney Igor will have to find his 3 point shot and become an overall more aggressive scorer. JMO

Wonder what CLTman thinks about Igor’s offense to date?

 

[ddubb76]

It’s my fault guys. I’m sorry. I sat down and watched the two games we lost this year. I missed the others. I guess I will only be able to watch highlights after the game this year.

 

[sami]

Good points but I can’t agree with your first sentence. As usual, our short coming when we lose is typically scoring. I believe for this team to reach its potential and make a deep run in the tourney Igor will have to find his 3 point shot and become an overall more aggressive scorer. JMO

I don't disagree but was just pointing out that Igor does add a lot aside from scoring that makes him a valuable piece. But him being able to put up 10-12 pts. routinely is something that would make a huge difference, especially come tourney time.

It is the difference between being able to win some games comfortably and every game not needing to be a defensive dogfight, which is hard to maintain from night to night.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Absolutely. I almost believe that rule has been modified as long as that BS has been going on

They actually did modify that rule. Players get a second dribble if they lose control due to attempted shot, opponent touch, or in pursuit of a loose ball. That last one looks ugliest because they dribble in pursuit of control, gain control and then dribble again. The geezer in me has a seizure when that happens.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

They actually did modify that rule. Players get a second dribble if they lose control due to attempted shot, opponent touch, or in pursuit of a loose ball. That last one looks ugliest because they dribble in pursuit of control, gain control and then dribble again. The geezer in me has a seizure when that happens.

Yeah, it drives me crazy too

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Starting to get a little concerned over Igor.
Still looks hesitant on shooting, not going to the rim enough.
Had hoped he would be progressing at a better rate by now. Tough 2 weeks coming up.
Hope Felix continues his upward trend, offsetting Igor lack of progress.

Igor isn't a volume guy, he's now played 101 games in his college career. The highest FGAs for a game is 14 and he has only done that twice (once here at TN).

He's a high % scorer when he has his best scoring nights...the difference with him compared to Chaz is that Igor simply isn't shooting the same % he did at Charlotte. Which makes sense considering SEC is a different beast.

And the most baffling part is that it's almost exclusively his 3 point shooting that has dipped.

46.4% FG is not far off his best season at Charlotte shooting 48.7%
77.5% FT is not far off his best season at Charlotte shooting 81.8%
27% 3PT is the lowest he has shot in his college career though, he was a 35.8% 3PT shooter in his 2 years at Charlotte and he shot 36.4% at Virginia

I think part of it is the demand of playing more active on defense and rebounding. Which he has really stepped up doing those 2 things well, but the first thing you see happen on tired legs is missing jump shots from distance.

A bit of a mixed bag though, in his last 5 games he's shot 6 of 18 (33.3%) so even though we're not seeing a huge uptick in points he has been shooting a bit better from deep. He's got a bit of the JJJ mindset it seems where he's willing to be unselfish and passes up opportunities to try and get his own.