bleedingTNorange
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1. What a fun win, I’m not sure if it’s playing a rival at their place or a tough fought close game, but sometimes you just yell at the TV a little more than normal or scoot a little further to the edge of your couch than normal...tonight was one of those games, it really felt like one of the best wins of the year when it was over, very satisfying game.
2. Vegas has this as a 2 point Vol win, advanced metrics had this as a 1pt game in either direction, people asked why? This was a road game against a conference rival, they play really good defense, can get hot from 3 and would have a packed house behind them...all of this was true, but in a game that years past this team wouldn’t have pulled out, this team executed great down the stretch and showed why they’re the #3 team in this country.
3. Offensively we shot 53% which is really good, we held them to 35% which is also really good, so why was it a game? The great equalizer being the 3 ball...Florida hit a ton of them in the first half and to their credit their defense forced us away from what we like to do, to our credit though this team can win multiple ways and they showed that again tonight. 23 attempts from 3 is gonna be more than Barnes prefers, but that’s what Florida was giving you and we hit 39% of them, not bad for what many worried was the weakest part of this team. I liked the adjustment by Barnes to go smaller, we still used Kyle but when he exited instead of Fulk or Walker we slid Grant to the 5, this was a lineup that had a lot of success against Florida in that 2nd half.
4. Speaking of Grant...PB&J did their thing again, Grant didn’t have his best game, nor did Admiral, but they both fought, played good defense and down the stretch both guys came up absolutely huge. The play won’t go down with the other all-timers because this wasn’t a massive game against a ranked team, but GW’s pass to Admiral in the corner for that late 3 is one I will remember for a long time.
5. Speaking of doing their thing...Jordan Bowden continued his strong play, his biggest critique was he never showed in big games or on the road, well he’s slowly putting that to rest. Since switching to coming off the bench he’s averaging 12ppg and has come up big in important spots when his team has needed him, I’m not sure if Tennessee wins this game without the stretch late in the game where he hits the 3 and then steal and dunk.
6. Again great to see Turner out there, he played big minutes and throwing down a dunk was a great sign, I am breathing a little easier and not worried about his shoulder much anymore. He will continue to get his legs back under him and get back into the flow and he’s an absolute gym rat so I have no doubts he will only improve, he and Bowden coming off the bench is a lot of firepower and gives us both the guard depth and outside shooting we were missing.
7. Obviously anything can happen, but this was one of the most likely stumbling blocks for the Vols per most advanced metrics, and our boys passed the test. Their next 9 games include 6 home games, and the 3 away are Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Texas A&M all teams Tennessee will be heavy favorites over...again anything can happen but do the Vols head to Rupp Arena on February 16th sitting at 23-1???
GBO!!!
2. Vegas has this as a 2 point Vol win, advanced metrics had this as a 1pt game in either direction, people asked why? This was a road game against a conference rival, they play really good defense, can get hot from 3 and would have a packed house behind them...all of this was true, but in a game that years past this team wouldn’t have pulled out, this team executed great down the stretch and showed why they’re the #3 team in this country.
3. Offensively we shot 53% which is really good, we held them to 35% which is also really good, so why was it a game? The great equalizer being the 3 ball...Florida hit a ton of them in the first half and to their credit their defense forced us away from what we like to do, to our credit though this team can win multiple ways and they showed that again tonight. 23 attempts from 3 is gonna be more than Barnes prefers, but that’s what Florida was giving you and we hit 39% of them, not bad for what many worried was the weakest part of this team. I liked the adjustment by Barnes to go smaller, we still used Kyle but when he exited instead of Fulk or Walker we slid Grant to the 5, this was a lineup that had a lot of success against Florida in that 2nd half.
4. Speaking of Grant...PB&J did their thing again, Grant didn’t have his best game, nor did Admiral, but they both fought, played good defense and down the stretch both guys came up absolutely huge. The play won’t go down with the other all-timers because this wasn’t a massive game against a ranked team, but GW’s pass to Admiral in the corner for that late 3 is one I will remember for a long time.
5. Speaking of doing their thing...Jordan Bowden continued his strong play, his biggest critique was he never showed in big games or on the road, well he’s slowly putting that to rest. Since switching to coming off the bench he’s averaging 12ppg and has come up big in important spots when his team has needed him, I’m not sure if Tennessee wins this game without the stretch late in the game where he hits the 3 and then steal and dunk.
6. Again great to see Turner out there, he played big minutes and throwing down a dunk was a great sign, I am breathing a little easier and not worried about his shoulder much anymore. He will continue to get his legs back under him and get back into the flow and he’s an absolute gym rat so I have no doubts he will only improve, he and Bowden coming off the bench is a lot of firepower and gives us both the guard depth and outside shooting we were missing.
7. Obviously anything can happen, but this was one of the most likely stumbling blocks for the Vols per most advanced metrics, and our boys passed the test. Their next 9 games include 6 home games, and the 3 away are Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Texas A&M all teams Tennessee will be heavy favorites over...again anything can happen but do the Vols head to Rupp Arena on February 16th sitting at 23-1???
GBO!!!
