That, ladies and gentleman, was just what the doctor ordered.
And although it wasn’t actually ordered by an M.D., Jordan McRae put on a 3-point shooting clinic as Tennessee (13-7, 4-3) downed the Ole Miss Rebels (14-6, 5-2) 86-70.
Three Vols other than McRae scored in double figures with Jeronne Maymon and Josh RIchardson both adding 16, while Jarnell Stokes recorded his 11th double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Armani Moore turned in another solid performance with two points, three assists, four rebounds and three blocks.
Here’s a look at a few of the stories that developed during the game Wednesday.
Jordy’s on Fiyah
Mentioned above, Jordan McRae put the atrocious performance in Gainesville behind him hitting six of his seven 3-point attempts on the way to a game-high tying 26 points.
“Florida nights happen but my coaches and my teammates kept telling me to shoot,” McRae said. “They texted me `keep shooting, we’re fine’. It’s all good.”
McRae hit two triples in the first half but then drilled four in a row during a four-minute stretch in the second half. The six 3s is a season high for McRae, and two off the career-high he set in a silly 8-11 shooting exhibition against Georgia last season.
Alright, so I’m gonna nitpick here. Indulge me for a moment.
Obviously 6-7 from behind the arc is great, but it’s entirely unsustainable.
McRae finished the game 9-20 overall, which means he was 3-13 from all that space inside the 3-point arc. Through the last two games, McRae’s shot 3-22 from inside the 3-point line. That’s roughly 14 percent. Against Florida, his shot selection was unfortunate, so let’s take a gander at his misses from Wednesday, and see if he improved any.
DISCLAIMER: Some of the images are fuzzy because WatchESPN sucks sometimes. So my advanced apologies.
Here we see McRae about to launch the one 3 he missed. There’s plenty of time on the clock, he’s well-guarded and at least three feet behind the 3-point line. Not a great shot.
Again, plenty of time on the shot clock. McRae drives and draws the defense but takes a contested layup while Ole Miss has the numbers advantage for a rebound and Tennessee has two guys open on the perimeter. Poor decision.
I don’t mind this one. It’s a deep two, so it’s inherently an inefficient shot, but there’s only 8 seconds left on the shot clock and he’s got ample room to shoot. The other option was Moore in the corner, and I’ll take my chances with McRae.
McRae had a good look this time. plenty of room to knock down a rhythm jumper from the elbow. But he passes it up.
And instead he ends up with this. An off-hand layup from eight feet with four defenders in the area. Meh.
Another long 2 with time on the shot clock, but again, it was in rhythm off two dribbles. McRae squares his body and shoots without much disruption from the defense. A good look, and a shot I expect McRae to hit more often than not.
This shot is one I can live with. McRae takes advantage of an Ole Miss defender overplaying a bad pass near the sideline and makes a beeline for the hoop. Instead of jumping into two defenders, out of control, McRae pulls up. Another one you’d expect him to convert.
Here McRae takes advantage of an Ole Miss defender over extending defensively and drives to the hoop. It ends up with McRae sandwiched between two blue jerseys and missing the layup. Richardson wide open on the near wing. Bad shot.
On this play, Armani Moore collects a rebound and throws the outlet to McRae. Jordan wants to push the tempo and run. That’s fine. But you have to be selective. Vols don’t have the numbers and McRae ends up taking a highly-contested layup at the rim with damn near a full shot clock. I’ll concede that Stokes is in position for the rebound, but still a bad shot.
Another long two, this one coming off a ball screen from Stokes. It’s crowded around the rim, fairly late in the shot clock and the defense closes out, but he’s still got plenty of room. Pretty good look.
This one looks like a designed play. McRae’s running a curl and coming off a screen again from Stokes. No qualms here, other than the fact that he missed it.
The final shot was a step-back jumper, but the Vols were up by 20 at that point, so I’ll give him a pass for that one.
Now, we very well may have different opinions about what qualifies a shot as “bad.” So interpret this information however you please.
My final take: It looks like McRae took better shots against Ole Miss than he did against the Gators, but it’s still an area on which he needs to improve. About half of his misses were on shots he shouldn’t have ever taken. Tennessee needs McRae to limit those poor decisions and convert his easy looks. LOL, like, duh.
Marshall, Marshall, Marshall!
Ahem, while we’re on the subject of bad shot selection…
A running loop of Cindy Brady crying, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia,” played through my head every time Henderson received a pass and inevitably shot the ball. I guess that’s probably kinda weird. Okay, it’s definitely weird. I never even watched the Brady Bunch… But that’s exactly what the Ole Miss players had to be thinking, at least occasionally, when Henderson launched some of his shots. Look, the dude can make it rain. No doubt. And I know he’s all Ole Miss has. Almost literally. But bro needs to reign it in sometimes. His shot selection makes Michael Beasley and J.R. Smith look deliberate in their heaves.
I’m aware that’s just how they do things down there in Oxford. Henderson takes nearly 36 percent of Mississippi’s shots on the season, which ranks him 12th in the nation. Against the Vols, Henderson attempted 22 of Ole Miss’ 63 total shots nearly nailing the season average on the button. It was the ninth time this year that Henderson has attempted more than 10 3-pointers in a game. His volatility likely saved Andy Kennedy’s job last season. But would better shot selection improve his game? Maybe not. Probably not. Some guys are just volume scorers, and Henderson is probably just always going to be one of those guys.
Either way, I think we should petition, somebody — whomever is in charge of that stuff — to change that boy’s legal name to Chuck. Let’s hope Charles Barkley doesn’t mind.
Here’s to New Beginnings
Cheers, Vol fans, to your new starting point guard, Darius Thompson.
The freshman and Nashville-native made his second career start against Mississippi replacing senior transfer Antonio Barton and played 23 minutes to Barton’s 17.
Tennessee finished with 20 assists, tying a season high set against Morehead State. Thompson finished the game with a career-high seven assists, which is also a season high from a single player for UT, compared to two turnovers. The kid has really good vision. And my favorite part: he makes the entry pass better than anyone else for Tennessee.
While he’s displayed good poise and vision for a freshman, he’s been hesitant to let his own shot go, which is understandable for a young guy on a team of mainly upperclassmen. But against the Rebels he took three shots in the first 3 minutes.
“The biggest adjustment for me – physicality and just basically being more aggressive on offense and defense,” Thompson said. “Looking more to shoot and getting gaps and finding my teammates.”
The shot will come. I’m not worried about that. What does concern me is Thompson’s defense. Throughout the season he’s struggled to stay in front of opposing point guards. He makes up for some of that with his long arms and 6-foot-5 frame, but he needs to improve his foot speed and quickness in order to keep himself between his man and the basket.