BTO’s Auburn postgame report

#1

bleedingTNorange

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#1
1. Sucks that we lost because back-to-back SEC Champions for the first time would have been pretty cool, but in the grand scheme of things this wasn’t a bad loss as it was a Q1 game and a quality team at their house on senior night, a lot was stacked against us. Now that doesn’t excuse our effort or say we couldn’t have won, definitely could’ve, but it’s also not going to be a game that hurts on selection Sunday.

2. After looking like maybe we had turned the corner defensively we laid an absolutely sticker against Auburn...the Tigers beat a good team by bombing away from deep and getting hot, and that’s exactly what we allowed them to do. They shot 34 of them and hit right at their 38% season average making 13 of them, why we allowed them to beat us at their own game I’m not really sure, but is bothersome. The 3pt defense hasn’t been good all year but seemed more by design, yet today the design seemed to allow them to shoot away from deep and hoped they missed, not a winning strategy imo.

3. Great to see Jordan Bowden have a good game as he had been cold of late, however Lamonte Turner is still ice cold and may have single handily cost us the game with his insisting on continuing to jack up shots even without a post touch...you can’t turn him into Pons and say never shoot, but he shouldn’t be taking heat check 3’s when the ball hasn’t gone inside one time, if he goes 0-6 on open lockout 3’s well so be it, but forcing 4-5 bad looks when he’s ice cold is borderline selfish, but I also know that is how he’s wired, take the good with bad I guess.

4. Somewhat related, our bread is buttered inside...GW was having his way with Auburn and we simply fell into trying to play their style, that’s not our strength and Auburn was more than happy to let us shoot 28 three balls. Auburn was pretty much playing GW straight up, he was scoring or drawing fouls almost every time he would get a FT line touch, yet we wanted to shoot 3’s...over simplistic but going forward we shouldn’t be taking 3’s off 0 or 1 pass, the ball should be moving and entering the post, again if that results in a clean 3pt attempt ok, but we aren’t Auburn nor should we try to be.

5. We went into their house on senior night, you saw how that worked out for Kentucky coming to Knoxville...they were emotional and amped up and I’m honestly surprised as well as they shot the 3 that the game was as close as it was and that we led for as much of it as we did. That’s a credit to our offense and rebounding in this game, but our defense was just not very good, if the guys regain focus as a result then really no harm done, but we are approaching the time of year when one game not focusing and your season is over, need to tighten things up.


GBO!!!
 
#4
#4
This one didn't bother me as bad as the LSU one for whatever reason. Yes I know what was at stake and what was lost today. But I'm excited for the SEC Tourney and let the Madness begin!

What does scare me, as I'm sure scares every team this time of year, is that we are one bad game away from going home in VERY DISAPPOINTING FASHION. However, I think the chances of that happening are very slim, as we have some great leaders on our team. We need to get hot in the SEC Tourney, even if we lose to KY or LSU, so be it. But I am under the impression right now that we will not get beat prior to the Elite 8 to a lesser team on a neutral floor this year.

IT'S GREAT TO BE A TENNESSEE VOL!
 
#5
#5
1. Sucks that we lost because back-to-back SEC Champions for the first time would have been pretty cool, but in the grand scheme of things this wasn’t a bad loss as it was a Q1 game and a quality team at their house on senior night, a lot was stacked against us. Now that doesn’t excuse our effort or say we couldn’t have won, definitely could’ve, but it’s also not going to be a game that hurts on selection Sunday.

2. After looking like maybe we had turned the corner defensively we laid an absolutely sticker against Auburn...the Tigers beat a good team by bombing away from deep and getting hot, and that’s exactly what we allowed them to do. They shot 34 of them and hit right at their 38% season average making 13 of them, why we allowed them to beat us at their own game I’m not really sure, but is bothersome. The 3pt defense hasn’t been good all year but seemed more by design, yet today the design seemed to allow them to shoot away from deep and hoped they missed, not a winning strategy imo.

3. Great to see Jordan Bowden have a good game as he had been cold of late, however Lamonte Turner is still ice cold and may have single handily cost us the game with his insisting on continuing to jack up shots even without a post touch...you can’t turn him into Pons and say never shoot, but he shouldn’t be taking heat check 3’s when the ball hasn’t gone inside one time, if he goes 0-6 on open lockout 3’s well so be it, but forcing 4-5 bad looks when he’s ice cold is borderline selfish, but I also know that is how he’s wired, take the good with bad I guess.

4. Somewhat related, our bread is buttered inside...GW was having his way with Auburn and we simply fell into trying to play their style, that’s not our strength and Auburn was more than happy to let us shoot 28 three balls. Auburn was pretty much playing GW straight up, he was scoring or drawing fouls almost every time he would get a FT line touch, yet we wanted to shoot 3’s...over simplistic but going forward we shouldn’t be taking 3’s off 0 or 1 pass, the ball should be moving and entering the post, again if that results in a clean 3pt attempt ok, but we aren’t Auburn nor should we try to be.

5. We went into their house on senior night, you saw how that worked out for Kentucky coming to Knoxville...they were emotional and amped up and I’m honestly surprised as well as they shot the 3 that the game was as close as it was and that we led for as much of it as we did. That’s a credit to our offense and rebounding in this game, but our defense was just not very good, if the guys regain focus as a result then really no harm done, but we are approaching the time of year when one game not focusing and your season is over, need to tighten things up.


GBO!!!
Not sure I understand Point #5. UK didn't play us on SR night, Mississippi State did. But to your point, it's tough to beat a good team on SR day. Add to that the Pearl-Tennessee factor, the tornado factor, and it's just tough to beat good teams on the road.

To Point #2, totally agree. I understand that the plan has been to date teams to beat you from 3, and ot has mostly been a successful theory. However, you had to know it was a super risky approach against a team like Auburn., especially at home where they are most comfortable. Bad gameplan, IMO.

-Grant obviously needed more looks inside, and Bowden could have been more aggressive since he was on fire. The biggest offensive problem was that we just went cold in the 2nd half and turned the ball over way too much. 14 Assists to 13 TOs. Very careless with the ball.

-Defensively, we just didn't create TOs and make AU uncomfortable. They are going to shoot 3s regardless, so we could have at least made them uncomfortable doing it rather than allowing multiple open looks. Still, even that would have probably won us the game had we not given up 10-12 points on uncontested drives to the bucket.

-Silver lining is we dominated the boards., 39-27, as we should have, and only gave up 7 ORebs.

I predicted a 4-3 finish, and that is exactly what we got. Even lost the 3 games I expected us to lose, so this doesn't upset me. Schedule was backloaded and if spread out thru the season, this looks much less damning. A 27-4 regular season is still something to be proud of.
 
#6
#6
Also, sloppy and careless play cost us terribly. Shot clock violations, errant passes, etc. The last two games we've been lax in that area.
 
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#7
#7
IMO comes down to turnovers and Turner's misfires. I thought the three's were well defended for the most part.
 
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#8
#8
The disappointing part is that we controlled the game for 90% of the time.
Not sure I agree. Auburn seemed very much in control for the majority of the 2nd half, even if it was a 1 or possession game. They were getting hot and taking care of the ball while we cooked way off and got super sloppy.
 
#9
#9
Very frustrating loss. For one we were in control a good bit of the game, yet were lulled into playing their game. Some of the 3s were just great shots but others we were doing the the thing where we left them wide open. We knew going in if they didn't hit 3s we would win, yet we played right into that.

Add to that some very silly turnovers and some really bonehead offensive sets where we didn't seem to know the shot clock was running out.
 
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#11
#11
Not sure I agree. Auburn seemed very much in control for the majority of the 2nd half, even if it was a 1 or possession game. They were getting hot and taking care of the ball while we cooked way off and got super sloppy.

I wouldn't say 90% but we had stretches where it looked like we could have started pulling away and we let them right back in it, until finally they passed us.
 
#12
#12
I hate the fact that we lost to the 3 better teams in the conference in Kentucky, Auburn, and LSU. Not sure how good we actually are.

Kind of stupid. We played UK twice and traded ass whippings, and only played Auburn and LSU at their places and lost one by 2 in OT and by 4 at Auburn.
 
#14
#14
Auburn only had 5 turnovers to Tennessee's 14 and the 3 point line is the hardest to guard without giving away some good looks.

Admiral's foul difficulty today was a major factor in my opinion and he has let the offense come to him in the last couple of games and has not forced a lot of bad shots.

It should be an exciting SEC Tournament next week in Music City and I like UT's chances of winning the tournament.
 
#17
#17
We are 4-3 down the stretch, including a miracle finish at Ole Miss. This team needs to realize that they are a top 15 team, that can win it all, and that could also lose it's second game in the tournament.
 
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#19
#19
The unlucky sequence that lost this game IMO with about 2 mins left:
- Grant blocks a shot on an AU drive, and it goes directly to Brown who hits a 3.
- Next position, we defend AU, Grant gets the rebound on the baseline, gets pushed OOB, no call, ball to AU, then hits another 3.
 
#20
#20
I wouldn't say 90% but we had stretches where it looked like we could have started pulling away and we let them right back in it, until finally they passed us.
Yeah, I'd agree in the 1st half and maybe first 5 mins of the 2nd half. Our largest 2nd half lead was 7 points at the 15 minute mark, and then we never held a lead inside the final 10 minutes.
 
#22
#22
Stupid? Really? It’s a logical concern. No?
I think the point is that you seem to be questioning how good the team is because they lost on the road to three good teams, 2 of which were decided by a total of 6 points, and the other we took out at home. If we play LSU and Auburn at home, we likely split with them as well. Your concerns seem to be unfounded or perhaps overstated. Every team in the country has a loss on their record on the road to a good team. It happens.
 
#23
#23
Sure. Go for it.

You said you don't know how good we actually are because we "lost to the 3 better teams in the conference". As I already pointed out, all 3 were on the road and the one we got a second game with at home we kicked their asses. We didn't get a second shot at our place against LSU and Auburn, but at the same time both were close losese on the road.

And if you don't know how good we are, then I guess you don't know how good UK and LSU are either. UK lost to us, LSU and Alabama. LSU lost to Florida and Arkansas, both at home.
 
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#24
#24
The unlucky sequence that lost this game IMO with about 2 mins left:
- Grant blocks a shot on an AU drive, and it goes directly to Brown who hits a 3.
- Next position, we defend AU, Grant gets the rebound on the baseline, gets pushed OOB, no call, ball to AU, then hits another 3.

The no call on basket interference resulting in a late 3-pointer was huge. Refs missed 2 calls on the same play. Basket interference AND since it was touched it should have been a 2 point tip in.
 
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#25
#25
The no call on basket interference resulting in a late 3-pointer was huge. Refs missed 2 calls on the same play. Basket interference AND since it was touched it should have been a 2 point tip in.
Not that it cost us the game, bit I thought it was interesting that it was glossed over and not reviewed. I know basket interference is not reviewable, but I'm fairly certain they cam review to see if it was tipped in or not.
 

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