Game Thread: #22/23 TENNESSEE AT NO. 13/13 KENTUCKY

i dont want to write off kellie as a bad coach just yet, even tho she failed to find an adjustment that would stop Howard. look if this game would have been a holly coached game, the loss prolly would have been 20 points or more. she was able to keep.em motivated and keep fighting to stay in the game, but in the end howard and the turnovers were to.much t9 overcome
Howard took 35 shots!!!!!
 
She missed 11 or 12 straight shots, you can't say we simply failed to contain her Coachjumper, bad calls, and youth reaction, aside, we stopped her for the second quarter, and still faught hard. Very bad calls on Key, and Jordan, really made difference. The team faught hard and will turn this into a good loss.

I will rewatch the game tomorrow. When I do, I will have a better idea of what happened.
It is different when I watch a game hoping for a win and when I watch a game to analyze it.
 
She took 27 shots. 37 pts off 27 shots is not too bad.

It is if you know they're going to take that many shots...
players like her are rare.
She put that team on her back and refused to lose.
More than that she conveyed her will to her teammates

Props to Rennia,,she played exceptional well in the face of a preset show between potential SEC POY's

Re Howards 27 shots,,,It's DVR'd so I can watch that film (with rewind and slow mo, tomorrow)
 
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Rennia is nowhere close to SEC POY. It will be between Carter, Howard and Dungee unless Rennia really turns it up. Aaliyah Boston from SC is closer to it than Rennia is at this stage.
Rennia is close. Her shooting percentage was better than Howard. I believe the Lady Vols would have won if Rennia had taken as many shots as Howard, 12 of 27 opposed to 12 of 20. Pure speculation of course.
 
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After a few hours of post-game decompression and careful consideration of the ultimate outcome, I’ve decided that I’m very proud of the way the Lady Vols continued to fight the #13-ranked team through all the defensive lapses to manage to lose by ONLY FOUR POINTS in a hostile environment.
Of course this was a disappointing loss, even if it WAS the expected outcome among most people outside the most optimistic of Lady Vol fans. BUT, they did not ever give up, they definitely stuck together, and I definitely believe their best games are ahead of them — IF they trust the process.
I love this team and know that they’ll use lessons from this game to grow for future games. OMG, when I really, REALLLLY take time to seriously stop and think of just how challenging the season was always destined to be in the unexpected absence of so many key players from last year, it’s truly amazing that we are sitting still-pretty at only 11-3.

We fans would do well to relax a little (or a LOT) and try to embrace the gift of patience. I honestly believe our team will, in good time, get it all together. They’re obviously making progress, and that’s all I honestly, realistically wanted out of Year One of this Harper-Goldwire-Sullivan-led group of players.
 
The game was definitely about poor Tennessee defense to many turnovers and Refs that don't know a block from a charge. I think you should lose if you give up 80 points and we did.

80 didn't beat us, we could have scored 81, 82,83....

It's not hard to understand how we lost :

KY was 13-27 for threes (This against a team we knew would shoot threes)

Career high for the team's only known player: Howard 12-27, (7-13 for 3's)

We had 15 assists to 21 turnovers

  • From 6:14 (TN up 10-9) to go in the 1st till 7:02 into Q2 we endured a 18-4 run, (score down 14-27 and we finally call a timeout)
  • We get back in it with a 21-6 run to end the half (score TN up 35-33)
  • Then, we let a 11-0 run for KY, to start the half before we call a (timeout #2)
We DID call timeouts, but only after too much damage was done....For this team in SEC play, until it develops a new identity... runs of better than 6-7 have to be stopped momentum-wise because this team's identity (until we change it) is to not be able to stop runs on their own
 
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Howard took 35 shots!!!!!

Which is twice as many times as should should have even touched the ball. I don’t understand why we never went to just straight up denying her the basketball.

Nobody else really stepped up for them. They only had one other player in double figures with 11. We had a much more balanced attack but did not execute defensively.
 
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80 didn't beat us, we could have scored 81, 82,83....

It's not hard to understand how we lost :

KY was 13-27 for threes (This against a team we knew would shoot threes)

Career high for the team's only known player: Howard 12-27, (7-13 for 3's)

We had 15 assists to 21 turnovers

  • From 6:14 (TN up 10-9) to go in the 1st till 7:02 into Q2 we endured a 18-4 run, (score down 14-27 and we finally call a timeout)
  • We get back in it with a 21-6 run to end the half (score TN up 35-33)
  • Then, we let a 11-0 run for KY, to start the half before we call a (timeout #2)
We DID call timeouts, but only after too much damage was done....For this team in SEC play, until it develops a new identity... runs of better than 6-7 have to be stopped momentum-wise because this team's identity (until we change it) is to not be able to stop runs on their own
The 21 turnovers is the big downer and I blame the Refs for three of those and over passing for another six or seven. I hope Coach Kellie will ask players why they try to pass when they are five feet away from the basket what is the point you don't have confidence you can make a five footer then go to the bench. We need to start getting better on ball control and smarter possessions. We got called on seven offensive fouls I agreed with four of them the other three were blocks IMO and we scored on three of them. Davis got called for catching a pass because the kentucky player was right up against her and she moved her arm backward about six inches as she received the pass. Then you wonder if you sell out on the three point line and reduce some of their threes what happens do they make enough twos to get it done. There two percentage was lower than their three percentage.
 
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The stats say she had only 1 assist or was it 0 in a game where we scored 80 points. So I agree the stats say so.
the stats say so.[/QUOTE]
She’s entitled to a bad game. What are her stats for the year? She’s averaging 4.9 assists per game #1 in the SEC and less than 1.5 turnovers a game. Don’t cherry pick stats to fit your biased narrative. 🙄
 
the stats say so.
She’s entitled to a bad game. What are her stats for the year? She’s averaging 4.9 assists per game #1 in the SEC and less than 1.5 turnovers a game. Don’t cherry pick stats to fit your biased narrative. 🙄[/QUOTE] You are correct I am cherry picking. Do your stats include the 10 very weak teams on our schedule? If so those are great stats. I hope those stats are the same at the end of season vs teams with winning records.
 
Which is twice as many times as should should have even touched the ball. I don’t understand why we never went to just straight up denying her the basketball.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we have anyone with enough quickness to play lockdown, ball-denial-type defense on anyone. That would have been *my* second-half plan if we did, for sure. I’d have had someone covering her so irritatingly closely from end to end that Kentucky would have had no choice but to count on others to score.
 
Unfortunately, I don’t think we have anyone with enough quickness to play lockdown, ball-denial-type defense on anyone. That would have been *my* second-half plan if we did, for sure. I’d have had someone covering her so irritatingly closely from end to end that Kentucky would have had no choice but to count on others to score.

Granted, Miss Howard has a smooth, quick release, but (I don't think) she is quicker than any of Davis, Massengill, Burrell, or Horston. And, just my personal observation, but it appeared to me that throughout the game the Kentucky players stayed closer to our perimeter players, than the Lady Vols stayed to the Kentucky players, and, to me, this is a simple fix. Of course, there were missed assignments - the one when Lou Brown, who doubtless thought the switchback had occurred, turned and jogged away from the shooter who canned yet another heartbreaking three, is a glaring example - but things like that can be addressed and alleviated. And, hopefully, sooner than later.
As you pointed out (not as an excuse, but as an obvious fact) a few posts previous, we are absent so many key players; and, Zaay Green is a terrible loss! And, yes, Coach Kellie, her staff, and certainly her players are due criticism for failure to get out on shooters (lack of effort), for so many errant passes, terrible shot selection, etc; but nothing that is taking place appears, from my recliner, to have surprised her. She has been forthright and accurate with her appraisals, compliments and criticism.
All this to say, I still share your enthusiasm. We are going to be very good. But, not very soon. Because, too many of our players (actually, all of them) are still deep in the learning curve. There are several concerns, of course, that will be corrected only with in-game experience. *Ironically, this is why I've been so vehement that everybody play every minute possible, until these things get sorted. Playing time, aka roster reduction ...always "plays" itself out.
I'm not (and I know you're certainly not) conceding the season. But, absent a sooner-than-expected transformation, we will be challenged in practically every game going forward. A fact that the staff and players appear to be embracing - a good thing. Cheers.
 
i dont want to write off kellie as a bad coach just yet, even tho she failed to find an adjustment that would stop Howard. look if this game would have been a holly coached game, the loss prolly would have been 20 points or more. she was able to keep.em motivated and keep fighting to stay in the game, but in the end howard and the turnovers were to.much t9 overcome
Gee, that’s awfully big of you to not want to write off OUR new Coach as “a bad coach,”“just yet.” You brought your Oregon handle here recently, worried Tennessee coming back? Maybe here to sow subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, dissension? Never understand why fans from Uconn, Florida, Baylor, and Oregon, etc., troll here. I guess in some ways, it’s a compliment.
 
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Even in losing we jump up to 93 in the RPI as Kentucky was 20. I think if we get on a winning streak of the next four games that will get us to around 60. When we play UConn even with a loss will probably be in the top 50. After that if we can win the games we should win and maybe upset A&M or Miss St at home we'll be in the top 25 and that plus 20 total wins means another trip to the NCAA Tourney. Will we be able to get to 20 wins well as I look at the schedule it seems quite possible.

At Ole Miss we go in a 18 point favorite.
vs Georgia home game 7 point favorite
at Florida 8 point favorite
Vs Alabama 8 point favorite
at UConn 19 point underdog
vs LSU 5 point favorite
at Vandy 2 point favorite
at South Carolina 16 point underdog
vs. Mississippi State 8 point underdog
at LSU 3 point underdog
vs Texas A&M 3 point underdog
at Arkansas 6 point underdog
vs Vanderbilt 12 point favorite
vs Mississippi 24 point favorite
vs Auburn 19 point favorite

So were favored to win 9 more which equals to 20. If we win those and maybe pull an upset over say Miss St or Texas A&M that would get us 21 or even 22 as I think we can beat them both at home with a consistent effort. Favored for a 10 and 6 SEC I'M still hoping for a 12 and 4. I think 8 and 8 is good enough to get in the NCAA.
 
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Excellent verbiage. Well put

Thank you, sir. And, if you wouldn't mind ...a question.
I'm sure it's not as "easy" as it looks - guarding the three. Good teams can spread you, and literally "drive" you crazy. But, we keep seeing players appear to practically ignore their assignment, only to arrive late (or not at all) while the ball goes through the net from long distance. I understand (a little) about screens, the give-and-go, etc., but we've left a lot of shooters - in a lot of games - open.
So, is this a result of a particular defensive scheme? IOW, are we "sagging" to double-team posts, or to help against the dribble drive?
For all our athleticism we've sure looked slow at times.
 
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Thank you, sir. And, if you wouldn't mind ...a question.
I'm sure it's not as "easy" as it looks - guarding the three. Good teams can spread you, and literally "drive" you crazy. But, we keep seeing players appear to practically ignore their assignment, only to arrive late (or not at all) while the ball goes through the net from long distance. I understand (a little) about screens, the give-and-go, etc., but we've left a lot of shooters - in a lot of games - open.
So, is this a result of a particular defensive scheme? IOW, are we "sagging" to double-team posts, or to help against the dribble drive?
For all our athleticism we've sure looked slow at times.


You don't switch when you are guarding a player like Howard.
You don't sag.
You don't rest or let HER rest
You don't let her get easy receptions
You cover her on defensive off the ball like a cheap suit, make her touches difficult
You don't play to "let her get hers"
Whoever is on her has one assignment, no matter what,,,HER!

Yes this opens a little light for the other players, but,
They're only going to go off, if SHE goes off
,,,shut her down and you shut down their inspiration.
 

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