BTO’s Missouri postgame report

#1

bleedingTNorange

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#1
1. Any road win in league play is nice, I said pregame I didn’t care what kind of fashion it was in, I would take a W...a 24 point win was definitely not what I was expecting that’s for sure. Missouri’s physicality I think surprised Tennessee early on and the refs made some questionable calls, Tennessee adjusted and from there it was over. Missouri led 27-18, Tennessee finished the game 69-36 after that point.

2. We essentially got nothing from our big 2 in the first half, really not much all game, but definitely nothing in the 1st half...if you told folks that pregame no way you think we are up 11 at the half, but that just goes to show the depth this team has and how well they’re executing offensively right now and not just with Schofield and Williams.

3. Which leads me to my next point...Jordan Bone, Jordan Bowden and Kyle Alexander are all playing at an extremely high level. Bone 17pts 5rbd 5ast 0to, Bowden 20pts off the bench without a single 3 ball, and Kyle follows up his best game as a Vol win an even better effort 14pts 17rbd 3blks and he’s flashed more aggression and simply put a mean side the past few games he previously lacked. All 3 of these guys are playing phenomenal, Bone is starting to get the national recognition now, Bowden getting praise in his role, and Alexander is likely to start seeing his name on mock drafts if he continues this level of play.

4. I was gonna include Lamonte Turner in the above but think he’s deserving of his own point tonight...nothing flashy but he gave us guard depth, played good defense and knocked down 3-4 from deep which is MAYBE the one area you could point to as a weakness on this team. We don’t need him to do much, Bone is going to find him and the attention our bigs are drawing he’s gonna get looks, keep knocking them down and that’s all he’s gotta bring offensively, so nice to see him out there though.

5. Some quick advanced numbers...offensively Tennessee puts up 1.28ppp tonight, the offense got off to a slow start but yet we put up our 3rd best offensive efficiency rating of the season tonight against a “defensive” team. Defensively we gave up 0.93ppp, that’s about average for us as a team...we definitely could’ve been better, especially the first 10 minutes, but were good the last 30.

6. The SEC screwed us a bit giving Missouri 9 days off and making Tennessee travel after a Saturday conference game, but we got the W so whatever...now Tennessee goes back home with an extra days rest to travel to Gainesville and play Florida. Again another road conference game and you can never take those for granted, it will certainly be a hostile environment and Florida has shown flashes of a team that can be very good, question is which team shows up for them. To me a win Saturday feels like it would be huge, we then would be home for 6/9 upcoming games and a chance to really go on a big winning streak would be very possible, but gotta get that W Saturday.


GBO!!!
 
#2
#2
Alexander and Bone were the main contributors tonight with Admiral and Williams playing secondary roles and Fulkerson contributed a couple of baskets and a key block off the bench. This is Tennessee's second win in Columbia and it is onward to Gainesville for a 6 p.m. tipoff on Saturday.
 
#4
#4
Something has happened to Alexander. He has become a possessed, violent rebounder with attitude to match in the past week. Whatever it is, I hope he never snaps out of it. Dude is playing for draft spot right now and the effort is unrecognizable.

Speaking of possessed...Jordan Bowden, wow. Where did the aggression towards the basket and midrange game come from?!?!? Man, I hope he keeps up that same level of confidence.

Bone...I have maintained that he might be a consistent jumper away from this being his last year at Tennessee. That feeling grows with every game, and the jumper may not matter with his play in every other category, even though he has seemingly improved the jumper a bit.
 
#6
#6
Tough test. Cuonzo teams always play hard. We don't win this game a year ago in my opinion. The tried and true nature of this team definitely shows. With Bowden, Bone, Alexander, etc. playing at such a high level will open up better opportunities for PB&J in future games. GBO!!!
 
#8
#8
I think you may be understating the importance of 4. Turner brings good D consistently and may be the best rebounding player under 6'-2" in the SEC. He's a quality ball handler who can provide the 10 minutes a game we would like to rest Bone. This is his 4th year in the program and as a result he has a high basketball maturity. And, when he's at his normal game he's been our most consistent 3 point shooter. He clearly wants to take the big pressure shots. When we're late in a tight game, he's the guy I want at the FT line. A healthy LT easily makes this team 10% better which is huge as they are already considered one of the top 5 teams without him playing. Our depth of quality pieces is getting ridiculous.
 
#9
#9
I think you may be understating the importance of 4. Turner brings good D consistently and may be the best rebounding player under 6'-2" in the SEC. He's a quality ball handler who can provide the 10 minutes a game we would like to rest Bone. This is his 4th year in the program and as a result he has a high basketball maturity. And, when he's at his normal game he's been our most consistent 3 point shooter. He clearly wants to take the big pressure shots. When we're late in a tight game, he's the guy I want at the FT line. A healthy LT easily makes this team 10% better which is huge as they are already considered one of the top 5 teams without him playing. Our depth of quality pieces is getting ridiculous.
Definitely agree on Turner's rebounding. He is great in that respect.
 
#10
#10
Something else that stood out in this game and the last couple games is it appears Pons has regressed a bit. I hoped that inserting him in the starting lineup would make him blossom, but hasn't happened yet?
 
#11
#11
Something else that stood out in this game and the last couple games is it appears Pons has regressed a bit. I hoped that inserting him in the starting lineup would make him blossom, but hasn't happened yet?
Very true. However, it has made Bowden into an entirely different player, so I don't want to see it changed...haha.
 
#12
#12
Kyle has responded to the Barnes challenge and Bowden has been born-again-hard. Both will be big down the stretch. Definitely answered some of those 'what will happen' questions asked this week tonight. And how about that Battle Hardened Bench. What a TEAM.
 
#16
#16
6. Which team will show up? I am not sure we know how many teams they have. You can bet Williams will get his points next time out. If UF does not get them they could make a long run.
 
#19
#19
6. Which team will show up? I am not sure we know how many teams they have. You can bet Williams will get his points next time out. If UF does not get them they could make a long run.
UF will be more blow out than this one. Soft, soft,,soft.
 
#21
#21
I think we will see Pons come out with that same energy he brought earlier this year (Kansas big block and putback Pons). I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about Pons and Barnes having a talk. He needs to mimic what Bowden has been doing regarding getting out on the break and causing turnovers. When you cause a turnover you usually get it back on he break.
 
#22
#22
I really want an article on what Barnes said/did to Kyle and Bowden. Wtf has gotten into those guys???
Barnes when asked about Kyle's double double after the Texas A&M CC game said , he should be doing that every game and much more. I think Kyle took it as a challenge. different player now. And Lordie Beee on Bowden. I don't know but I love it.
 
#23
#23
Thought the adjustments by Barnes were great. He sat out top scorers (in a crucial stretch) and put it on Bone's shoulders. I think he flipped the script on MO's plan. The team has figured out how to play with who is on the floor and that's what cost us the Kansas game. I'm really proud of this team and I love the style of basketball TN plays. The Lofton/Pearl era teams were great too but this is just different and really special. GBO.
 
#24
#24
Barnes when asked about Kyle's double double after the Texas A&M CC game said , he should be doing that every game and much more. I think Kyle took it as a challenge. different player now. And Lordie Beee on Bowden. I don't know but I love it.
Anarchyyyyyyyy!!
 
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