Tennessee’s semifinal game at the Emerald Coast Classic was a long night for the Vols who came up on the wrong end of a 60-57 loss to Florida State. Here are four take aways from Tennessee’s first lost of the season.
1. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers — When you turn the ball over 21 times, you typically are going to lose. Tennessee had a nightmare evening taking care of the basketball. The Vols had 13 first half turnovers. The cut it down to 8 in the second half, but they were at critical times. For example down 7 with 4:20 to play freshman Josiah James dribbled it off his foot in the backcourt. Down four with :20 seconds to play, Yves Pons threw into the middle of the floor that was picked off by the ‘Noles. Down seven with 12:30 to play, Tennessee turned it over on three straight possessions. In the first half they were down 14-2 in the first 6:20 thanks to 7 turnovers to start the game. Vol point guards Lamonte Turner and Josiah James at the point position combined for 13 (8 by Turner) of the 21 turnovers.
2. Couldn’t throw it in the ocean — Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden were a combined 7 of 24 from the field. They were 3 of 11 from beyond the arc. It’s no secret that those two have to score if this team is going to win. Turner took at team high 14 shots, but no one else even to seemed to be looking for their shot at times. Turner did create offense by getting to the free throw line 14 times. Bowden only got to the line 3 times and didn’t attack the basket as 7 of his 10 field goal attempts were three point shots. As a team the Vols finished shooting 33% from the field and 22% from the three point line. Numbers that aren’t good enough to beat a quality team like Florida State. The question for this team is who will score when when the two senior backcourt roommates don’t have it going. At one point in the first half, Tennessee went over 7 minutes without a field goal
Pons was good with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. But the Fulkerson was not an offensive factor against the ‘Noles man to man. Fulkerson was just 1 of 2 from the floor, didn’t get to the free throw line and only had 2 rebounds.
Other than a back-cut for a dunk by Bowden, Tennessee’s offense generated nothing easy all night.
3. Tennessee’s bench has to become a factor — Barnes tried to play his bench more Friday night as he tried to steal some minutes. Davonte Gaines played 15 minutes, Drew Pember played 6 minutes, Nkamhoua Olivier played 8 minutes. Jalen Johnson only got 2 minutes in the first half. The bench generated 2 free throws as Gaines shot two for Turner who was battling cramps. Other wise, the bench went 0-2 from the field, pulled in 5 rebounds and committed four turnovers. Barnes can’t play Bowden and Turner 36-40 minutes every night for the entire season and not expect bad offensive nights. Tennessee’s bench doesn’t have to be great, but it has to give this team bigger contributions than it did Friday night.
4. On a positive, Tennessee’s defense was good enough — Tennessee held Florida State to 60 points and held them without a field goal the last 6:30 of the game. Over the last six and half minutes, Florida State scored just 9 points all at the free throw line as the Vols defense was good enough to win the game. Florida State finished the second half shooting just 24% from the field. Tennessee defended the rim well with 7 blocked shots and after the first 8-10 minutes of the game, the Vol guards did a better job of keeping the ball in from of them. With a defensive effort like that, Tennessee is going to be in every game. They just have to capitalize on it which they couldn’t do Friday night.
