The Official #9 Tennessee @ Mississippi State Game Thread, 7:00 PM ET, ESPN2

#26
#26
UP / Aidoo should be a tough matchup for Miss St. Smith is their tallest guy getting significant minutes. They list him as 6-11 but he’s clearly shorter than Aidoo who we list as 6-11. I hope our plan is to play inside out. If our post guys are being successful then Miss St will have to pack the paint which should mean a lot of clean looks for our jump shooters.
 
#27
#27
creekerballer said:
Another game against a team likely to be playing desperate, but this time on the road. Going to have to play a good game and play smart, avoid early foul trouble. Just find a way to win, idc the margin or how ugly it looks, just figure out how to get out of there with the W.
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They don't have UK talent, but your point is valid. Hope the team is somewhat motivated tonight. If not, well...if they don't care, I guess fans shouldn't either?
 
#28
#28
I guess I don't get how SEC basketball is scheduled. Why are we playing an SEC West team twice?
 
#30
#30
MoCo_Vol said:
I think between missing all of last season and jumping from Indiana State to Tennessee he's just not in condition to play full out like some of the other guys with a year or more in the system. If the entire team had the conditioning/motivation that Santi and ZZ have we'd be undefeated right now.

Key in SEC play: 5.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.8 apg while shooting 28.6% FG, 31.6% 3PT, 71.4% FT

Really wish we had pulled in one of the other true PGs we were after (Yuri Collins or Tyrese Hunter) but gotta roll with who we have was hopeful Mashack would see more playing time in SEC play, but he's nearly fallen out of the rotation in the past 2 games he's only gotten 5 minutes also confused why Awaka hasn't played more than 8 minutes in last two games. He had 9/6 in 16 minutes against Mississippi State and then followed that up with 5/6 in 11 minutes against South Carolina. Unless I'm missing something not sure why he went from those two games to just 2 minutes against Vandy and only 6 against Kentucky.
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My guess is that Barnes saw him as an option at PG as well as an compliment to Vescovi to keep defenses honest, but it's just not worked out that way. Pretty much just a body out there. The only thing I can think of is that Edwards is a project. Not ready to contribute at this level yet. Guess he's a guy we will start seeing as a junior....unless he transfers.
 
#33
#33
CAVPUT said:
My guess is that Barnes saw him as an option at PG as well as an compliment to Vescovi to keep defenses honest, but it's just not worked out that way. Pretty much just a body out there. The only thing I can think of is that Edwards is a project. Not ready to contribute at this level yet. Guess he's a guy we will start seeing as a junior....unless he transfers.
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Yeah, Key to his credit is pretty careful with the ball something that Edwards apparently isn't. Barnes doesn't mind a PG that plays fast as long as they don't play rushed.

I think if Edwards' goal is to elevate his game to potentially playing after college he'll stay here 3 or 4 years and develop like Bone did, but with the free transfer you never know anymore both Key/Santi will be gone next season so the opportunity to be the 2nd PG with ZZ will be there. Both Dillone and Carr are both combo guards and who knows where they'll play the majority of their minutes.
 
#35
#35
I am also hopeful an away game with short turn around is a benefit in this situation. Saturday at home against Kentucky with the retirement ceremony and a sold out TBA was a TON of pressure. This is a "nothing to lose" game for us and all the pressure is on Mississippi State imo.

If we play intense defense and loose on offense we will win comfortably.
 
#36
#36
I'm expecting a big bounce back game for ZZ tonight and he hits his layups. Near double double tonight
 
#37
#37
I think we win tonight but it won't be anything like the 1st meeting. We win by 5 - 10 pts. I think the thing that frustrates me the most out of the UK loss is that we wasted that performance by Uros.
 
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#39
#39
SouthKnoxVOL said:
I think we win tonight but it won't be anything like the 1st meeting. We win by 5 - 10 pts. I think the thing that frustrates me the most out of the UK loss is that we wasted that performance by Uros.
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Perhaps he will build on it and become another low post option for us. Dude should be averaging 12pts and 6+ rebounds a game. We get that from him it makes opposing coaches rethink their strategy.
 
#41
#41
MoCo_Vol said:
Yeah, Key to his credit is pretty careful with the ball something that Edwards apparently isn't. Barnes doesn't mind a PG that plays fast as long as they don't play rushed.

I think if Edwards' goal is to elevate his game to potentially playing after college he'll stay here 3 or 4 years and develop like Bone did, but with the free transfer you never know anymore both Key/Santi will be gone next season so the opportunity to be the 2nd PG with ZZ will be there. Both Dillone and Carr are both combo guards and who knows where they'll play the majority of their minutes.
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I believe that Santi has one more year of eligibility....unless I am mistaken. Granted, he did go through the Draft Evaluation process last year which in most cases means departure.
However, Maria Nelson is a redshirt junior. So that means if he wanted them to finish school and leave together ... he might stick around for another year.
Not making a prediction and I do not have any connections to the couple. Go Santi and Maria!!!!!!
 
#42
#42
Winning on the road in SEC play is never easy, but I think we have a nice bounce-back game here and win by double digits. Go Vols!
 
#43
#43
If we don’t play better tonight than we did Saturday against Kentucky, we get another L. Winning on the road in SEC is tough. The he key player is Phillips. He needs to play well for this team to even have a chance to be successful. Go Vols.
 
#45
#45
VolGee4 said:
We play 3 permanent teams twice (UK, Vandy, USC). The other two rotate every year.
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Since there are no divisions in SEC basketball, who makes up "the other two"? I take it Miss St is one of the other 2 since we're playing them twice
 
#47
#47
87&91ALUM said:
Love these Vols but, Saturday was a kick in the head. We really need Awaka, Aidoo, On, and Zeigler to get the ball to go through the hoop and not just bounce off. Zeigler had a horrible game Saturday. Vescovi‘s threes evaporated. Play like that tonight and get beat. Keys to a win? Score more than they do. Simple as that.
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The scoring droughts / lack of consistency scoring seems to be a Vols mainstay.
 
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#48
#48
Sea Ray said:
Since there are no divisions in SEC basketball, who makes up "the other two"? I take it Miss St is one of the other 2 since we're playing them twice
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"the other 2" teams we play twice in a given year rotates. This year it's Mississippi St and Auburn. Next year it will be 2 other teams. But we always play Kentucky, Vandy, and SC twice (at least until Texas and Oklahoma get added, then who knows...)
 
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#49
#49
87&91ALUM said:
Love these Vols but, Saturday was a kick in the head. We really need Awaka, Aidoo, On, and Zeigler to get the ball to go through the hoop and not just bounce off. Zeigler had a horrible game Saturday. Vescovi‘s threes evaporated. Play like that tonight and get beat. Keys to a win? Score more than they do. Simple as that.
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Shades of last year. When Santi went cold, everybody else went cold. It's maddening how they can shoot over 60% at SC on the road and buff it up at home.
 
#50
#50
Line has moved to -5.5. Anybody else taking that action? This team knows they have to perform tonight. I think that's a very high probability bet
 
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