Four quick takes on a rough night

Tennessee (0-1) got the 2016-17 season off to a rough start, dropping its opener to Chattanooga 82-69 on a night when very little seemed to go the Vols’ way. Here’s four quick takes on a tough start.

1 — Turnovers and guard play — Everyone knew that this team would be challenged in several areas this year from a personnel standpoint, but much of that concern has seemed to focus on a general lack of size. After tonight’s effort, guard play has to be a concern. That’s not to suggest that the Vols won’t have some issues dealing with some teams in the paint but the most alarming aspect tonight was a lack of playmaking combined with a boatload of turnovers. Tennessee had just two assists in the entire first half while turning it over 12 times. Things got a little better after the half in terms of turnovers, but not playmaking.

Sure, some early season struggles are to be expected with so many new pieces on this squad, especially since many of those pieces are young. But there’s no sugar coating the fact that you can’t be have a negative assist to turnover ratio of 18 turnovers to just four assists like the Vols did tonight and overcome it, even against mediocre competition.

Guard play was an issue on the defensive end as well as the Mocs repeatedly beat Tennessee defenders off the dribble to get into the paint where it turned into a lay-up line in the second half for the visitors. Chattanooga shot nearly 60% in the final 20 minutes, and almost all of that was a result of beating Tennessee off the dribble to create easy opportunities at the rim.

2 — Shooting — This is pretty basic, but when you’re a guard heavy team like the Vols appear to be, you probably better be a good shooting team. That was certainly not the case tonight, especially from long-range. Tennessee was an ugly 1-for-7 in the first half and things didn’t improve in the second half as they finished a miserable 1-of-16 behind the arc and overall shot 32% for the game.

The need for the Vols to be at least a solid outside shooting team is highlighted by the simple fact that there is no reliable post scorer unless you want to count 6-foot-4 Robert Hubbs, who I think we can agree is a wing being forced to spend some time at the four.

Taking Hubbs out of the equation the Vols got two field goals from the post tonight, one each from Grant Williams and Kyle Alexander, and both of those came deep into the second half.

3 — Second half start — After leading for much of the first half as Chattanooga struggled to make shots things started to take a turn for the worse for the Vols in the final minutes of the first half. The Mocs went through a stretch where they made 4-of-6 three pointers to take the lead and a buzzer beater off an offensive rebound gave them a 34-29 halftime lead.

That’s a long-winded way of saying that the start of the second half was going to be crucial and the Vols blew it. Instead of coming out and seizing momentum on their home court, Tennessee watched as Chattanooga hit four of its first five shots from the field, harassed the Vols into a couple of turnovers and quickly extended the lead into double digits.

After the Mocs went up 39-29 with 18:44 left Tennessee would never get closer than six points the rest of the way.

Chattanooga shot a scorching 58.2% from the floor in the second half and because the Vols could never string together any stops, the Mocs weren’t really threatened down the stretch.

4 — Jordan Bone — It’s hard to find many positives after a home opener like that one but it was a nice debut for freshman Jordan Bone, who got the start at point guard.

Bone scored the first six points of the game for the Vols and finished with a team-high 21. He was a rock-solid 8-of-14 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 at the line. Outside of Bone the rest of the Vols were an ugly 11-for-44 from the field.

The one negative was that he finished with just one assist but he had only two turnovers while playing 31 minutes, second most on the team behind only Hubbs.

Bone didn’t look rattled against some veteran guards, and while he certainly can improve in some areas like on-ball defense and playmaking, it was a promising start for a young player who is looks like he’s going to be carrying a heavy burden this year.