You could say it wasn’t pretty. Or you could say Tennessee let one slip away. You might even say that Tennessee didn’t bring their A-game. But none of those would accurately describe the disaster Tennessee fans witnessed on Tuesday night.
Heading into one of its toughest weeks of the season, the Vols would need a win at Vanderbilt to avoid having to beat Kentucky at Rupp Arena (with ESPN Gameday in town) to earn a split for the week.
Someone apparently forgot to tell the players.
With the hopes of an SEC title dwindling with each passing game, Tennessee just didn’t bring the intensity or effort required to win a conference game on the road and got blasted by 19 points in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates. In fact, on multiple occasions, it appeared that Tennessee was dangerously close to their worst margin of defeat under the Pearl regime.
The Vols were out-muscled, out-hustled, and out-worked. Not typically a trait of Bruce Pearl coached basketball teams.
Let’s forget for moment that this was a revenge game for the Vols, as Vanderbilt beat Tennessee by nine points on its home floor just two weeks ago. It was almost as if the players didn’t care. That, or Vanderbilt is just a LOT better than Tennessee right now. Either answer is equally sickening if you hate the black and gold, so take your pick.
Bruce Pearl has his work cut out for him. Kenutcky is likely licking their chops in anticipation of Saturday’s game in Lexington. The train that is Kentucky basketball under John Calipari is rolling forward full steam ahead and if tonight is any indication, Tennessee is about to get run over.
Pearl noted during the post-game that Tennessee isn’t getting any production out of the two spot. Scotty Hopson isn’t scoring as much as is needed and he isn’t showing any signs of physical toughness. Hopson finished with 10 points (only two free throw attempts), but most of those came when the outcome of the game had been decided.
Meanwhile, Skylar McBee managed zero points in 19 minutes on 0-1 shooting.
Pearl hinted he may play Bobby Maze at the two spot in an effort to get more production out of the position.
With this loss, Vanderbilt has beaten Tennessee three out of the last four games.
Tennessee and Kentucky tip off at 9:00 pm on Saturday in Lexington on ESPN.