Four quick takes on a quick exit
Tennessee had a short stay in Nashville, getting bounced on Thursday afternoon 59-57 by Georgia in the SEC Tournament. Here are four quick takes on a season ending loss.
1 — Lean on the D early — Tennessee got off to a fairly atrocious start from the floor today. The Vols missed their first six shots and converted at an ugly 27% for the first half. Despite that the Vols took a 27-26 lead into halftime mostly due to some pesky defense.
The Vols held Georgia to just 31% shooting while forcing the ‘Dawgs into 10 first half turnovers. Tennessee also did a solid job early on against their nemesis J.J. Frazier, limiting him to nine first half points and largely preventing him from getting on any kind of a roll.
Rarely this season has Tennessee been good enough on defense for that to carry them for long stretches but it did today. That’s a step forward for a young group who often times have seemed to let offensive struggles impact their effort and/or mindset on the defensive end.
The defense was even more impressive early considering the Bulldogs got back first-team All-SEC forward Yante Maten today who had missed three weeks with a knee injury. Additionally, Grant Williams played all of eight minutes in the first half after he picked up two quick fouls, adding a degree of difficulty to the Vols’ executing on defense.
Unfortunately, that level of defense didn’t carry over into the second half, but the Vols kept grinding. Georgia made its first three shots of the half to set the tone and ending up connecting on 48% from the field in the final 20 minutes.
2 — Foul trouble tests short bench — Tennessee’s bench had already been shortened earlier in a year when John Fulkerson was lost to injury and Detrick Mostella was dismissed.
Today the Vols were without Shembari Phillips who had the misfortune of injuring his foot during Wednesday’s closed walkthrough at Ensworth. That further tested some already suspect depth and really seemed to play a role in the team’s second half demise.
Phillips is arguably the team’s best perimeter defender and can be a solidarity offensive option when he’s on his game. His absence certainly didn’t help matters today.
The Vols had to lean heavily on the bench after their ‘bigs’ encountered serious foul trouble. Williams picked up two quick ones in the first half and then was whistled for No. 3 quickly after halftime.
Things got seriously complicated when Lew Evans picked up his fourth foul early in the second half, severely limiting Rick Barnes’ options.
The head coach really had no choice other than to roll with Williams and hope he stayed out of foul trouble in the second half. The freshman did so, but it seemed like the foul trouble really took him out of his rhythm.
Williams just wasn’t an offensive factor for the vast majority of the game. He was scoreless in the first half and finished with just six points, this after lighting Georgia up for a career high 30 points in the first meeting between the two teams.
He didn’t get his first point until a made free throw with 4:40 left in the game.
3 — Freshman guards, especially you Mr. Bone — Jordan Bone??? Where have you been? Bone was in a groove for the Vols today. He led the team with 14 points, shot 5-of-8 from the floor, 4-of-6 from three point range and handed out five assists.
It was a tough day for the Vols but Bone finished on a high note.
Bone has had an inconsistent season to say the least. He scored 21 points in his college debut then missed nine games with a stress fracture in his foot.
Shortly after his return he absolutely lit Vandy up for 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, leading most to believe he was on his way to stamping himself as one of the SEC’s best freshmen.
As we all know, things didn’t exactly unfold that way. Following that Vandy game Bone hit double digits just two more times in the last 14 games of the regular season and was just 5-for-25 from three-point range over that stretch.
According to his head coach the bigger issues were on the defensive end of the floor and his playing time steadily dwindled until he lost his starting spot late in the year. In the season finale against Alabama Bone got just two minutes off the bench, so to say his outburst today was unlooked for is a large understatement.
He didn’t get the start today but he certainly made the most of his opportunity. In addition to the scoring he had just one turnover in 25 minutes of work and also did a respectable job when he was matched up with Frazier on defense.
Bone also got a helping hand on offense from fellow freshman Lamonte Turner. He wasn’t nearly as efficient as Bone, finishing 5-of-13 from the field but just 1-of-7 from behind the arc for 13 points.
The duo spent much of the game on the floor together which is a look Vol fans may see a great deal of next year.
4 — Just a poor shooting team and big guys don’t step up— This is hardly a revelation, but the Vols have been a poor shooting team all year long, especially from the perimeter.
Tennessee was one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the SEC this season. In 18 SEC games Tennessee finished 12th in the league making just 31.8% from three. That wouldn’t be such a huge problem if the Vols’ two leading scorers weren’t a pair of 6-foot-5 post guys.
Tennessee rarely took pressure off of its inside scorers with three-point shooting and they certainly didn’t today.
Outside of Bone, who was 4-of-6 from the floor, the rest of the team was 3-of-19 from behind the arc. That’s ugly.
The perimeter woes got highlighted today when Georgia essentially just took the Vols’ two leading scorers out of the game. Robert Hubbs finished six points and was just 3-of-11 from the floor. Hubbs looked to be hurting today and wasn’t on the floor at the end of the game.
Williams finished with only six points, and incredibly took just one shot in the entire game, which he made, with under four minutes to play in the game. Foul trouble was certainly a problem for Williams, but he still played 23 minutes which made his lack of production a mystery.