Thoughts on High Point (Game 2)

#1
bleedingTNorange

bleedingTNorange

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#1
1. Tennessee was once again absolutely dominating in the first half, Vols have outscored their first 2 opponents 98-27 in the first half, pretty impressive regardless of opponent.

2. You saw the versatility tonight that Barnes has with this team, very early on he made the change to go smaller and it was very effective, nice move. With a team that has so much talent at guard and wing this isn't a bad strategy at all, was also pretty fun to watch as well.

3. Won't go too much into individual players but thought Daniel played extremely well, and I applaud him for seemingly buying in 100%. He had 10ast 0to's and only took 4 shots, while also playing very solid defense, great to see. Also thought Turner brought a nice spark off the bench, Darrington showed some flashes and Fulk appears to be getting closer to the person we saw last year.

4. Definitely would appear the main 9 guys are set, and that 10-13 will be Walker, Pons, Kent and Johnson. Walker will likely be the guy that is odd man out when we go small like we did tonight, and Pons was nursing an ankle which is why he didn't get out there. In any regard, it appears this team is extremely deep and versatile, nice problem to have.

5. Biggest negative I would take from tonight is the turnovers...we once again shared the ball very well 20ast on 27 made shots, but we had 17 turnovers. Bone. Had 6 of those himself which can't happen, have to take better care of the ball.

6. Purdue is going to be a massive step up in competition, in all honestly part of me wishes we had the Furman or Mercer game before B4A to hopefully ramp up the competition a bit. I am interested to see the Vols have to play a full game though and to go with their best 9-10 for 40 minutes, really looking forward to it.
 
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#3
#3
Very nice, the preseason is now over and it's time to see if this team can compete in the B4A.
 
#4
#4
Any highlights to be had?
I keep trying Highlights on the UT Sports site, but it won't play now that they've screwed up the site.
Used to be able to go there to see highlights, but not anymore. I'm over in Kuwait serving the country, so attending any game is out of the question.
The lousy army TV service does not broadcast UT games, but I'd at least like to be able to see a highlight once in a while.
 
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#5
#5
Is High Point a high school? Where do they get these teams from?

Kentucky played Kansas and Duke played Michigan State. Tennessee plays High Point.
 
#9
#9
illinoisvolfan1 said:
Is High Point a high school? Where do they get these teams from?

Kentucky played Kansas and Duke played Michigan State. Tennessee plays High Point.
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High Point also was Big South champions from 2013-2016 (4 straight). But have you not noticed that all P5 basketball teams play several cupcakes each season. We actually play less than most other teams.
 
#12
#12
calban said:
Have to maintain that first half performance against the quality teams. Second against HP was unacceptable. /shades of last season.
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we won by 30 lol. Would’ve won by more if we didn’t call off the dogs. We’ll be fine. Lol
 
#13
#13
Dallasbowlin said:
we won by 30 lol. Would’ve won by more if we didn’t call off the dogs. We’ll be fine. Lol
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They beat us 40 to 32 in the second half.
Didn't have anything to do with dogs. We 'sluffed off' on defense.
Don't think Barnes was happy about it either.
 
#14
#14
calban said:
They beat us 40 to 32 in the second half.
Didn't have anything to do with dogs. We 'sluffed off' on defense.
Don't think Barnes was happy about it either.
Click to expand...

I didn't think that Barnes was too bothered. His demeanor was pretty laid back in the second half. He was joking around with the refs during a late time out. They're chilling now with three straight days of games and the travel coming up.
 
#15
#15
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I didn't think that Barnes was too bothered. His demeanor was pretty laid back in the second half. He was joking around with the refs during a late time out. They're chilling now with three straight days of games and the travel coming up.
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i'm the resident pessimist, but the contrast of first and second half performance in the first 2 games is worrisome.
We only beat the lowly Blue Hose by 3 in that second half.
The lax D in the second half or with a big lead can't continue against quality teams. this team could be very good if they just maintain for 40 minutes.
 
#16
#16
calban said:
They beat us 40 to 32 in the second half.
Didn't have anything to do with dogs. We 'sluffed off' on defense.
Don't think Barnes was happy about it either.
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True, but some of that can also be attributed to the subs that were put in during the second half. Since we had a large lead, the starters got more rest towards the end of the game.
 
#17
#17
calban said:
i'm the resident pessimist, but the contrast of first and second half performance in the first 2 games is worrisome.
We only beat the lowly Blue Hose by 3 in that second half.
The lax D in the second half or with a big lead can't continue against quality teams. this team could be very good if they just maintain for 40 minutes.
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~Playing the role of the board optimist~

Honestly, I'm not worried at all. I don't for a second thinks that when this team is being challenged on the court that they'll coast through a half like they did against the first two teams. We owned them both and the only question I can't really answer is, if we wanted to, how many points could we have scored? Triple digits for sure.

So relax....it's going to be fine. We'll win a lot more than the experts projected we would and be sitting pretty when selection day comes. :)
 
#18
#18
calban said:
They beat us 40 to 32 in the second half.
Didn't have anything to do with dogs. We 'sluffed off' on defense.
Don't think Barnes was happy about it either.
Click to expand...

Barnes only played Williams/Schofield about 8 minutes each in the 2nd half, he tinkered with some wild lineups and played guys who wouldn't have been playing in a close game...definitely think it was a different philosophy than the first half, same can be said for Presbyterian game.
 
#20
#20
bleedingTNorange said:
Barnes only played Williams/Schofield about 8 minutes each in the 2nd half, he tinkered with some wild lineups and played guys who wouldn't have been playing in a close game...definitely think it was a different philosophy than the first half, same can be said for Presbyterian game.
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We'll know more after Atlantis.
 
#21
#21
Alexander is still far from dominating, but he in much better at catching the ball this year. He caught a very difficult ball last night that he would have certainly dropped a year ago.
 
#22
#22
calban said:
They beat us 40 to 32 in the second half.
Didn't have anything to do with dogs. We 'sluffed off' on defense.
Don't think Barnes was happy about it either.
Click to expand...

They outscored us, sure. Presbyterian almost did as well. You'll get a little lackadaisical with a 40-45 point lead for over half the game, while the other team is bound to play better and even the scales a bit. It isn't anything to fret over. These guys know they can't do that against Purdue.

And if I'm being honest, I'd rather our weaker opponents play us closer in the 2nd half when the game is well in hand than in the 1st half and going into halftime down to one of these teams. It means we came out with the right mindset from the start and did what we should have instead of letting a team like that hang around for a half. It's impossible to think we were going to play that well for 40 minutes, and that they would play that poorly. The final score was never going to be 92-28. It was bound to balance out.
 
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#23
#23
cncchris33 said:
They outscored us, sure. Presbyterian almost did as well. You'll get a little lackadaisical with a 40-45 point lead for over half the game, while the other team is bound to play better and even the scales a bit. It isn't anything to fret over. These guys know they can't do that against Purdue.

And if I'm being honest, I'd rather our weaker opponents play us closer in the 2nd half when the game is well in hand than in the 1st half and going into halftime down to one of these teams. It means we came out with the right mindset from the start and did what we should have instead of letting a team like that hang around for a half. It's impossible to think we were going to play that well for 40 minutes, and that they would play that poorly. The final score was never going to be 92-28. It was bound to balance out.
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You're probably right and I'm sure the extra substitutions had a large affect. Sometimes I just need something to worry about.
Still like what I'm seeing and I think we'll be even more potent offensively as some of the guys get healthy.
 
#24
#24
With 10 assists tonight, graduate transfer @jayd3__ became the first Vol to log double-digit assists in a game since Trae Golden had 11 vs. Louisiana Monroe on Dec. 16, 2011.

Daniel did not record a turnover. #GBO
 
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#25
#25
It was interesting to say the least to see all 3 PGs on the floor at the same time.


Also anyone want to tell me congrats on being correct about Alexander/Walker???????????????????
 
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