Four quick takes on a heartbreaker
Tennessee lost a heartbreaker this afternoon, falling 69-65 to No. 13 Oregon in overtime. The Vols turned in a second straight gutsy performance, but came up short in the extra session.
1 — Start of both halves — Tennessee will be kicking itself for awhile after this one due to the simple fact that if the Vols had done anything at all to start either half of basketball they’d be leaving Maui with a win over a ranked opponent.
In the first half Oregon jumped out to a 9-1 lead while it took the Vols more than five minutes to get their first bucket. Tennessee, behind Detrick Mostella, rallied back to not just catch the Ducks, but actually take a 32-26 lead with 1:10 left in then alf, before allowing Oregon to score six straight points to tie the game 32-32 at the half.
The start of the second half was even more abysmal. Tennessee went 6:28 before getting on the board after the half, falling behind 41-32 in the process. The Vols were their own worst enemy with an ugly 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Oregon failed to fully take advantage of all the miscues though, and the young Vols showed some real heart in battling back to tie the game and force overtime.
That grit and determination were commendable, and seeing it had to be encouraging to Rick Barnes. What’s going to drive the head coach crazy though is that combined, Oregon outscored his team 18-3 to start both halves of basketball in a game they lost in overtime.
2 — Defense/Rebounding — Barnes has questioned his team’s ability on defense and on the glass this season, but the Vols showed improvement in both categories today. Oregon shot just 34% for the game and Tennessee finished with six blocks while coming up with 11 steals. That’s a solid outing against a skilled offensive team.
On the glass, Tennessee out-rebounded the Ducks 42-37 and John Fulkerson really showed up. The freshman had 10 rebounds, to go along with12 points for the first double-double of his career. Five of those came on the offensive end where Fulkerson also handed out a pair of assists. Unfortunately, those two assists tied him for the team lead.
Fulkerson led the Vols with five blocks, showing up consistently both as a help side defender and in straight man-to-man situations. It was a big step forward for the freshman. It was also much needed on a day where Kyle Alexander was in foul trouble from the opening minutes of the game after two quick ones and finished with zero points and just two rebounds.
Fulkerson, as all can see, still needs to get stronger. Also, his 2-of-7 effort from the floor highlights his lack of polish in the low-post, but those things can come. His offensive rebounding and sheer intensity helped him get to the line 12 times today where he went 8-for-12. All in all, just a really nice outing for him against quality competition and something that should boost his confidence.
Robert Hubbs also answered Barnes’ call to arms, grabbing eight boards. That’s something this team needs more of from him, to put it mildly.
3 — Have to clean it up— We touched on the turnovers to start the second half, but that was only the most glaring example of what was a brutal and consistent problem for Tennessee all afternoon long. The Vols finished the game with 25 turnovers, the kind of number that will make a coach’s eye-balls bleed.
What will infuriate Barnes even more is that the vast majority of those were unforced errors on his team’s part. Oregon had nine steals, a big number to be sure, but that means Tennessee simply gave the ball away and wasted a possession on 16 other occasions. In a game that went to overtime, it’s not hard to see how that’s a key reason the Vols came up short.
Additionally, the Vols had just nine assists in the game, a disturbing number when contrasted with the 25 turnovers. It’s also provides a hint of just how hard this team is having to work to score right now if they don’t get something in transition or in their secondary break.
Too often the Vols are having to go deep in the shot clock and settle for contested jumpers. They were 5-for-22 from three-point range today, many of those misses coming as the clock was winding down.
Those kind of struggles—with turnovers and playmaking—obviously speak to guard play. Clearly Tennessee was hurt by the absence of Jordan Bone today, out with a foot injury, but asking a freshman to make up for all the shortcomings we’re currently seeing is asking a lot.
Kwe Parker had his moments, particularly on defense today. He made both of his shot attempts to finish with four points while handed out two assists with just one turnover in 13 minutes of work.
The Vols will get better in this area as the year goes along, certainly I think we’ll see them cut down on the turnovers. But creating easy opportunities for each other could be something that’s an on-again off-again issue all season long.
4 — Mostella hot early, others have their moments— This was a classic Detrick Mostella game. The streakiest of players, he was at his streakiest today. The junior was the only thing that kept the Vols in the game in the first half. He didn’t even get the start, but heated up in a hurry off the bench with 18 points in just 12 minutes, making 6-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-5 from three-point range. At one point during a VERY slow offensive start for the Vols Mostella was 3-of-4 while the rest of the Vols were a combined 1-of-16 shooting.
Perhaps predictably though, he left his mojo in locker room at halftime, scoring just four points the rest of the way before fouling out with 2:04 left in regulation. Still though, getting him heated up to that degree was a good sign, and as always, everyone will be waiting to see if any kind of consistency can develop out of it.
We already mentioned Fulkerson’s performance, which had to be considered the biggest reason for optimism of the afternoon. In addition to all his stats, he played a team high 37 minutes.
Lamonte Turner was largely quiet all game long but made a couple of big plays during the pressure cooker of the final moments. He drilled a huge three-pointer with 3:48 left to trim a six point Duck lead down to 55-52, then followed that up with a tough pull-up from 17 feet that made it 55-54 with 2:29 remaining to set up the overtime.
Turner also had a nice assist to Fulkerson for a dunk in overtime as the shot clock was winding down, his only one of the game.
Those were the only five points Turner scored in the game, so we’re not trying to say he as great by any means. However, to step up like that in that circumstance, when you haven’t made a shot all game, is a pretty bold comment about your game.
Not to dwell on it, but on the downside, Tennessee is going to need more from Hubbs than the six points he gave them on offense today. The eight boards were nice, no doubt, but he was scoreless in the second half and didn’t earn himself a trip to the line in 31 minutes of play.