cncchris33
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Tennesse wins (76-73) in OT, in the type of game I have just become accustomed to losing. Down 5 with 16 seconds to play in regulation is normally a shoo-in loss for the trailing team. Vandy, a normally pretty good FT shooting team, finished 3-6 to close out the game, and was 17-30 on the night. That's your game in a nutshell. They beat us, or played us near even in every other category, and destroyed us in the paint (36 points in the paint). It's so nice to finally be on the other end of one of these type games.
The Good...
1. JRich was back to being JRich, and honestly, you had to know that was coming too. He may never go 1-13 from the field again, but I certainly didn't expect it in back-to-back games, and I expected a concerted effort to get him involved early and often. 27 pts, 7 rebs, 4 assts, 2 stls, and only 3 TOs in 42 minutes.
2. Welcome back Derek Reese! I was hard on him for several weeks, and justifiably so, but that offense is what we need from him. Hia shot is still broken, but on this night, it went in more often than not, and he led the team in rebounding. 12 pts, 8 rebs, 2 assts, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
3. Solid effort for Armani across the board. He didn't contribute much in the rebounding category, which is ironic on the night when ESPN couldn't stop gushing about his rebounding ability, but he was solid everywhere else. He did miss a couple gimmes again, and his overall shooting percentage was lower than I care for from our PF. 13 pts, 2 rebs, 3 assts, 2 blks, 2 stls, 1 TO.
4. Robert Hubbs came to play again. Cramps got to him late, but not before he put home the game-tying shot at the buzzer to force OT. 9 pts, 7 rebs, 1 asst, 1 blk, and 2 TOs. He actually took his man off the dribble one time, stepped back and hit an 18-footer in his face. That confidence is continuing to grow and grow. Skill-wise, he is only missing a more-refined ball-handling ability. If he gets that in the offseason, then watch out.
5. We seemed to do a much better job of closing out on shooters, though there were some breakdowns, especially early. It did come at the expense of getting exposed around the FT line area, where Vandy did a great job of breaking us down in the paint IMO. I'd look for CDT to adjust that vs LSU, and we will likely see more open jumpers conceded to them as one of the poorer outside shooting teams in the SEC, while we try to shore up our interior defense. Otherwise, Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin will eat us alive.
6. Though we only got 13 attempts at the FT line, we made ours count, while Vandy didn't. Armani bricked two with less than a second to play, or we'd have finished above 90%. Going forward, I'd like to see us get to the line more, especially since we give up so many FTs because we foul so much. We aren't good enough offensively to take less than half of what we give up at the FT line. Settling for jumpshots is leading to this issue.
The Bad...
1. It wasn't all rosy, and we made enough careless mistakes and took enough bad shots to lose 2 or 3 games. Vandy just made a few more, and we capitalized when they didn't. The 36 points in the paint that we gave up is likely a preview of what is to come the rest of the way as we play some teams with elite inside offensive play (UK, LSU x2, and Vandy again).
2. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, I shutter at the thought of this team next year after JRich leaves. We simply have no one else who can handle the ball consistently on even an average Power 5 conference level. Richardson went out of the game ahead of the under-12 minute timeout for a quick rest, and Tennessee nursing a 4-pt lead. We immediately turn it over twice within 20 seconds of each other, and head into the TO tied at 47. We HAVE to secure a PG in the spring. Otherwise, if Shembari Phillips can handle the ball at all, he'll see a lot of minutes next year.
3. Kevin Punter hit a huge 3 to cut the Vandy lead to 2 in the final minute of regulation, but man does he disappear for long stretches. I only noticed him when he took a bad shot or committed a boneheaded TO. He has to step up and be more of a scoring threat, and stop blending in.
4. Willie Carmichael; 14 minutes, 2 pts, 2 rebs, 2 TOs, and 4 fouls. Same song, different verse. Just not a threat to do anything right now. He had another instance of catching the ball in the paint, freaking out, and walking again, which is becoming an every game staple of his, and it comes down to thinking too much. The game just hasn't slowed down for him yet.
5. Tariq took a step back I thought. He hustled for sure, as always, but he just didn't make any plays, and was a definite liability defensively, which probably led to him only playing 7 minutes.
6. I thought we settled for way too many jumpers in the second half, and we hit a real dry spell as a result. I'd like to see us attack the paint more and score or get fouled, but to an extent, our absence of ball-handlers restricts that.
7. We looked dead on the offensive glass. We finished with 9, but I don't remember them other than the huge one to seal the game with about 14 seconds left in OT. But hey, that's the one that counts, right?
Bottom line...
A win is a win, and I've learned to take every one of them that this team will give you. It's so good to finally find a way to win a game you shouldn't when trailing late. I simply can't figure out how this team is 4-2 on the road and 2-3 at home. Home competition has maybe been a little better, but still, winning on the road in conference is tough, especially for a young, inexperienced team with a lack of ball-handlers. Kudos to CDT for getting them prepared. Now let's steal one from LSU at home.
The Good...
1. JRich was back to being JRich, and honestly, you had to know that was coming too. He may never go 1-13 from the field again, but I certainly didn't expect it in back-to-back games, and I expected a concerted effort to get him involved early and often. 27 pts, 7 rebs, 4 assts, 2 stls, and only 3 TOs in 42 minutes.
2. Welcome back Derek Reese! I was hard on him for several weeks, and justifiably so, but that offense is what we need from him. Hia shot is still broken, but on this night, it went in more often than not, and he led the team in rebounding. 12 pts, 8 rebs, 2 assts, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
3. Solid effort for Armani across the board. He didn't contribute much in the rebounding category, which is ironic on the night when ESPN couldn't stop gushing about his rebounding ability, but he was solid everywhere else. He did miss a couple gimmes again, and his overall shooting percentage was lower than I care for from our PF. 13 pts, 2 rebs, 3 assts, 2 blks, 2 stls, 1 TO.
4. Robert Hubbs came to play again. Cramps got to him late, but not before he put home the game-tying shot at the buzzer to force OT. 9 pts, 7 rebs, 1 asst, 1 blk, and 2 TOs. He actually took his man off the dribble one time, stepped back and hit an 18-footer in his face. That confidence is continuing to grow and grow. Skill-wise, he is only missing a more-refined ball-handling ability. If he gets that in the offseason, then watch out.
5. We seemed to do a much better job of closing out on shooters, though there were some breakdowns, especially early. It did come at the expense of getting exposed around the FT line area, where Vandy did a great job of breaking us down in the paint IMO. I'd look for CDT to adjust that vs LSU, and we will likely see more open jumpers conceded to them as one of the poorer outside shooting teams in the SEC, while we try to shore up our interior defense. Otherwise, Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin will eat us alive.
6. Though we only got 13 attempts at the FT line, we made ours count, while Vandy didn't. Armani bricked two with less than a second to play, or we'd have finished above 90%. Going forward, I'd like to see us get to the line more, especially since we give up so many FTs because we foul so much. We aren't good enough offensively to take less than half of what we give up at the FT line. Settling for jumpshots is leading to this issue.
The Bad...
1. It wasn't all rosy, and we made enough careless mistakes and took enough bad shots to lose 2 or 3 games. Vandy just made a few more, and we capitalized when they didn't. The 36 points in the paint that we gave up is likely a preview of what is to come the rest of the way as we play some teams with elite inside offensive play (UK, LSU x2, and Vandy again).
2. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, I shutter at the thought of this team next year after JRich leaves. We simply have no one else who can handle the ball consistently on even an average Power 5 conference level. Richardson went out of the game ahead of the under-12 minute timeout for a quick rest, and Tennessee nursing a 4-pt lead. We immediately turn it over twice within 20 seconds of each other, and head into the TO tied at 47. We HAVE to secure a PG in the spring. Otherwise, if Shembari Phillips can handle the ball at all, he'll see a lot of minutes next year.
3. Kevin Punter hit a huge 3 to cut the Vandy lead to 2 in the final minute of regulation, but man does he disappear for long stretches. I only noticed him when he took a bad shot or committed a boneheaded TO. He has to step up and be more of a scoring threat, and stop blending in.
4. Willie Carmichael; 14 minutes, 2 pts, 2 rebs, 2 TOs, and 4 fouls. Same song, different verse. Just not a threat to do anything right now. He had another instance of catching the ball in the paint, freaking out, and walking again, which is becoming an every game staple of his, and it comes down to thinking too much. The game just hasn't slowed down for him yet.
5. Tariq took a step back I thought. He hustled for sure, as always, but he just didn't make any plays, and was a definite liability defensively, which probably led to him only playing 7 minutes.
6. I thought we settled for way too many jumpers in the second half, and we hit a real dry spell as a result. I'd like to see us attack the paint more and score or get fouled, but to an extent, our absence of ball-handlers restricts that.
7. We looked dead on the offensive glass. We finished with 9, but I don't remember them other than the huge one to seal the game with about 14 seconds left in OT. But hey, that's the one that counts, right?
Bottom line...
A win is a win, and I've learned to take every one of them that this team will give you. It's so good to finally find a way to win a game you shouldn't when trailing late. I simply can't figure out how this team is 4-2 on the road and 2-3 at home. Home competition has maybe been a little better, but still, winning on the road in conference is tough, especially for a young, inexperienced team with a lack of ball-handlers. Kudos to CDT for getting them prepared. Now let's steal one from LSU at home.
