BTO’s Arkansas Postgame Report

[bleedingTNorange]

1. That was about what I expected, a sweater, but definitely wasn’t the route I thought we would take in getting there. Came out playing arguably our best half of basketball and had a huge lead, allowed Arkansas to climb back in and found a way to hang on for dear life for the win. I was anticipating a close back and forth game for 40 minutes, definitely wasn’t the case, but turned into a nail bite me late for sure and we found a way to pull out the W.

2. I thought JJJ was huge down the stretch, when Arkansas made a run he his some big shots and made some key defensive plays, he seems to be finding a new gear a little bit of late and that it bug for this teams success…at our best he’s giving us 35+mpg and being aggressive, you know what you’re going to get from him defensively.

3. The defense was really good I thought, we turned it over too much and got out worked on the boards by a wide margin especially in the 2nd half which made it a ball game for sure…we have to take care of the ball, we typically do a good job of it but in games we’ve struggled in it’s typically a common theme. The rebounding is effort, we whipped Auburn of the boards and can do it, Arkansas was desperate the 2nd half and so it’s not a huge shock but disappointing we didn’t match it.

4. A negative we are starting to hear more and more about, our 2pt% is really bad, and really keeping our offense from being really good in all actuality. 11/32 today from 2, 34%, that is REAAALLLY bad…fact is BHH & Aidoo don’t need to be making post moves, Fulky if the matchup is there ok, Plav if he’s got position ok, Aidoo if he’s open on an 17 footer ok, but we are trying to get post looks for guys that is such a lower percentage play…add in the mid range attempts from Chandler, JJJ, Vescovi and Zeigler and it’s just not great basketball…especially considering how well we have been shooting the ball from outside. Yea we may live and die by the 3, but imo that’s clearly our best offense.

5. Time to do a regular season finale reset..23-7(14-4), that’s a better finish than anyone realistically expected, you throw in an expected Memphis W and that’s 24-7…in polls next week we are probably around #10, that’s a great season. However even more importantly, we are playing our best ball at the right time and that’s not something that we have done much heading into March. The win today absolutely locks up a 4 seed as the floor imo, and quite possibly a 3, we should be flirting with a 2 seed in the next update. Our opening SECT should absolutely be a very winnable game and win that and definitely would increase chances of a 2 and again seemingly cement a 3 as the floor. We still have yet to see 40 minutes of the best Tennessee basketball they have to offer, and that is exciting, the hope is that we see it at the right time!!!


GBO!!!

 

[Phil-A-Man Jaro]

It does seem like we are playing better and better as the season goes.

A little better rebounding and a little better free throw shooting and this game doesn't get quite so stressful.

 

[SJAVol32]

Seems like our offensive outburst are happening more often than the droughts are. Which is really good. The droughts are just highlighted more because of the obvious. I would’ve loved a 25-30 point win but I’m elated with getting this win going into the SEC tourney. Now it’s all about who can string together wins when it matters most.

 

[Sudden Impact]

Dykes so promo Arkansas it was good to get the win.....
So Tired of the Espn Crew stating that the top 4 of the SEC can make the FF but Tennessee is always treated like the Red Headed Step Child and there is always that Shout Out to Alabama.
I thought this was a better officiated game but todays game had it moments
I never understand how a club like LSU or this year Auburn can be in the dead hair of an investigation or coming off of one can win and be on the list for a SEC Championship. Miss St blew it this week but it was a poorly bias called game in the last 3 minutes. Not during the Overtime.

 

[General Jack]

Undefeated at home with the schedule we had was a real accomplishment. Wish we’d closed out better today, but it was still a W over a tough, hot team.

Chandler has to do better with his FTs. Glad we have ZZ and Santi to handle the ball late.

 

[walkenvol]

Dykes so promo Arkansas is was good to get the win.....
So Tired of the Espn Crew stating that the top 4 of the SEC can make the FF but Tennessee is always treated like the Red Headed Step Child and there is always that Shout Out to Alabama.
I thought this was a better officiated game but todays game had it moments
I never understand how a club like LSU or this year Auburn can be in the dead hair of an investigation or coming off of one can win and be on the list for a SEC Championship. Miss St blew it this week but it was a poorly bias called game in the last 3 minutes. Not during the Overtime.

The bs charging calls were correctly called as blocks tonight. Much better job by the officials today!

 

[Voltime123]

Santi 4 turnovers
ZZ 4 turnovers

Very uncharacteristic of them

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Yall see this? Lord have mercy.

 

[VolArmy74]

Undefeated at home with the schedule we had was a real accomplishment. Wish we’d closed out better today, but it was still a W over a tough, hot team.

Chandler has to do better with his FTs. Glad we have ZZ and Santi to handle the ball late.

Unfortunately ZZ was clanking them today. JJJ fouling out didn't help any for having a last minute FT shooter.

 

[walkenvol]

Yall see this? Lord have mercy.

Was UT charged a time out when the officials stopped play for the girl to retrieve the O?

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Was UT charged a time out when the officials stopped play for the girl to retrieve the O?

I don't think so. I think it was an official timeout. I'll go back and look if no one knows for sure

 

[esarmstrong]

Chandler's FT issues are most unfortunate. Late in games, you see a concerted effort by Tennessee to keep the ball out of his hands when nursing a small lead when the opponent is in an obvious foul situation. How is it that a kid who shot nearly 90% free throws in HS goes below 60% in college?

 

[Voltime123]

Chandler's FT issues are most unfortunate. Late in games, you see a concerted effort by Tennessee to keep the ball out of his hands when nursing a small lead when the opponent is in an obvious foul situation. How is it that a kid who shot nearly 90% free throws in HS goes below 60% in college?

Like he has said in his interviews it is mental, let’s talk about ZZ and Santi combining for 8 turnovers though..

 

[HighWaterVol]

Yall see this? Lord have mercy.
@Freak - can you please make a love button?

 

[vegasvolfan]

1. That was about what I expected, a sweater, but definitely wasn’t the route I thought we would take in getting there. Came out playing arguably our best half of basketball and had a huge lead, allowed Arkansas to climb back in and found a way to hang on for dear life for the win. I was anticipating a close back and forth game for 40 minutes, definitely wasn’t the case, but turned into a nail bite me late for sure and we found a way to pull out the W.

2. I thought JJJ was huge down the stretch, when Arkansas made a run he his some big shots and made some key defensive plays, he seems to be finding a new gear a little bit of late and that it bug for this teams success…at our best he’s giving us 35+mpg and being aggressive, you know what you’re going to get from him defensively.

3. The defense was really good I thought, we turned it over too much and got out worked on the boards by a wide margin especially in the 2nd half which made it a ball game for sure…we have to take care of the ball, we typically do a good job of it but in games we’ve struggled in it’s typically a common theme. The rebounding is effort, we whipped Auburn of the boards and can do it, Arkansas was desperate the 2nd half and so it’s not a huge shock but disappointing we didn’t match it.

4. A negative we are starting to hear more and more about, our 2pt% is really bad, and really keeping our offense from being really good in all actuality. 11/32 today from 2, 34%, that is REAAALLLY bad…fact is BHH & Aidoo don’t need to be making post moves, Fulky if the matchup is there ok, Plav if he’s got position ok, Aidoo if he’s open on an 17 footer ok, but we are trying to get post looks for guys that is such a lower percentage play…add in the mid range attempts from Chandler, JJJ, Vescovi and Zeigler and it’s just not great basketball…especially considering how well we have been shooting the ball from outside. Yea we may live and die by the 3, but imo that’s clearly our best offense.

5. Time to do a regular season finale reset..23-7(14-4), that’s a better finish than anyone realistically expected, you throw in an expected Memphis W and that’s 24-7…in polls next week we are probably around #10, that’s a great season. However even more importantly, we are playing our best ball at the right time and that’s not something that we have done much heading into March. The win today absolutely locks up a 4 seed as the floor imo, and quite possibly a 3, we should be flirting with a 2 seed in the next update. Our opening SECT should absolutely be a very winnable game and win that and definitely would increase chances of a 2 and again seemingly cement a 3 as the floor. We still have yet to see 40 minutes of the best Tennessee basketball they have to offer, and that is exciting, the hope is that we see it at the right time!!!


GBO!!!

Always appreciated. Great DUB. I'm very proud of our guys and our staff. I was so wrong about this team. Ugly or not, we got it done. Let's see if we can keep the dubs rolling! PS Neyland was undefeated this year!

 

[kayman1]

Imo, we cannot play slow. We get alot better looks when we push tempo. Regardless of score, we should push, push, push!

 

[Other_Guy]

They're still inconsistent to where I don't forsee a deep playoff run but like you said what's important is the timing of getting hot.

 

[VOLtaism]

Our freshmen bigs could help a lot in the tournaments, more than just rebounding and defending. They need to learn how to go to the basket without using the dribble. They look like the Globetrotters when they get in the post and are getting stripped without getting off a shot. That light could come on at any moment.

 

[esarmstrong]

Like he has said in his interviews it is mental, let’s talk about ZZ and Santi combining for 8 turnovers though..

Talk about it, then, but ZZ & Vescovi's troubles have absolutely nothing to do with Chandler's free throw woes. I wonder if the coaches have reviewed film of him shooting free throws in high school. Something needs to give, whether his technique needs to be completely broken down and started over, he only is getting progressively worse with each game.

 

[Voltime123]

Talk about it, then, but ZZ & Vescovi's troubles have absolutely nothing to do with Chandler's free throw woes. I wonder if the coaches have reviewed film of him shooting free throws in high school. Something needs to give, whether his technique needs to be completely broken down and started over, he only is getting progressively worse with each game.

He was 2-3 last game? Again it’s mental and it’s been talked about ad-naseum. Are they a big deal yes but KC gets dogged more than every player on this team and the ****** part is he is one of the biggest reasons we are winning these games. He is his own worst enemy and he will correct them, so continuing to talk about it is getting old when there are so many other positives to talk about and quite a few obvious negatives from other players that effected the game way more egregiously than 3 missed free throw attempts..

 

[i2amavol]

Our freshmen bigs could help a lot in the tournaments, more than just rebounding and defending. They need to learn how to go to the basket without using the dribble. They look like the Globetrotters when they get in the post and are getting stripped without getting off a shot. That light could come on at any moment.

I thought the two freshmen took a step back, tonight. BHH especially looked very timid at times. I haven't looked at the stats. That's just the feel I had for this game.

 

[Volfan1000]

Undefeated at home with the schedule we had was a real accomplishment. Wish we’d closed out better today, but it was still a W over a tough, hot team.

Chandler has to do better with his FTs. Glad we have ZZ and Santi to handle the ball late.

Chandler went 0-3 from the free throw line today and shot 2 airballs.

He will get fouled a lot in crunch time and needs to develop ice veins at the stripe when the game is on the line.

Tennessee is dead last in the conference in two point field goal percentage and ranks second in three point field goal percentage in the conference.

Solid momentum headed to Tampa and the conference tournament next Friday.

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

Talk about it, then, but ZZ & Vescovi's troubles have absolutely nothing to do with Chandler's free throw woes. I wonder if the coaches have reviewed film of him shooting free throws in high school. Something needs to give, whether his technique needs to be completely broken down and started over, he only is getting progressively worse with each game.

Amen, Santi and ZZ have not had a lot of turnover problems. I love KC but his lack of focus and shooting free throws has been a consistent, especially late in games. He gets to the line and seems to worry about where everyone is and pointing all around instead of concentrating on the free throw line. Do the same thing everytime at the line. Breathe dribble bend them knees and stroke it. Foot on the nail repeat. Free throw shooting is very important especially as you get in the tournament. Good passing, good movement, good shooting, good rebounding and great defense. GBO!

 

[VolSkeet83]

Our guards were aggressive driving the lane, but a lot of the results were contested shots that landed high off the backboard, and when our guards decided to dump it off in traffic to our bigs, they couldn't handle the passes and ended in turnovers or awkward point blank shots that rimmed out. Chandler did this a lot earlier in the season. In the NBA, the bigs are ready to catch those passes and can consistently finish those opportunities in traffic, but not on this squad.

BHH, Aidoo, and Plavy might be better at catching those passes next year, but they all seem to have stone hands when getting tight passes around the hoop. Some of those plays aren't their fault, but Santi and Chandler have made some great passes at the rim when the defense collapses on them and too many of the passes get fumbled or dropped. Maybe a product of expecting the guards (our best scorers) to take the shot and they get stuck "watching" the play instead of anticipating a pass. Anyone else notice this?

 

[Voltime123]

Our guards were aggressive driving the lane, but a lot of the results were contested shots that landed high off the backboard, and when our guards decided to dump it off in traffic to our bigs, they couldn't handle the passes and ended in turnovers or awkward point blank shots that rimmed out. Chandler did this a lot earlier in the season. In the NBA, the bigs are ready to catch those passes and can consistently finish those opportunities in traffic, but not on this squad.

BHH, Aidoo, and Plavy might be better at catching those passes next year, but they all seem to have stone hands when getting passes tight passes around the hoop. Some of those plays aren't their fault, but Santi and Chandler have made some great passes at the rim when the defense collapses on them and too many of the passes get fumbled or dropped. Anyone else notice this?

Yes it was prevalent to start the year, they have gotten a little better since then though