The Official #5 Tennessee @ Mississippi State Game Thread, 7:00 PM ET, SEC Network

[TNVOLFN]

Learned alot more about this team in this loss then we would have a win.....man they came back from 15 down and took a good team to the wire....I'm proud

That is a positive, but I wonder if it might be fool's gold. Knecht had to go off for us to get back in the game, can we depend on him to do that every time?

 

[KTrain]

Vols shot the ball bad in first half. Plenty of good looks but shots would not go down. We have to shoot the ball better on the road. I know that sounds simple, but a veteran group must take more responsibility for the first half performance. One would hope we will be motivated for a noon game in Athens Saturday. The dogs are 2-0 In conference play. We gotta make shots. Hopefully Aidoo will show better. Don’t think Georgia has a scoring big that will bully him.

Yep, I think JJJ has such a spin or rotation on the ball the tightness of the rims can be the difference in a miss or a rattle out. We had four 3s go basically all the way in then rattle out. Luckily Ziegler hit some that had no rim contact. The same shooting at UNC so its a concern going forward.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

That is a positive, but I wonder if it might be fool's gold. Knecht had to go off for us to get back in the game, can we depend on him to do that every time?

We haven't needed for him to do it every game and won't going forward

 

[EasternVol]

I think we’ll be out of the Top 25 for sure.

The wheels are off. We’ll never win another game.

 

[VolsFan4lyfe]

We should drop to about 10. We have a problem on offense.

 

[TennEddie]

And still Kentucky always finds ways to
win tough road games. They were
underdogs at UF, but found a way
to win while playing many freshmen.
I hate it !

 

[EasternVol]

JJJ looked like he had never played before!!! Him and Gainey should have their minutes cut! Pitiful

You better let Rick know.

 

[SGMVols]

And still Kentucky always finds ways to
win tough road games. They were
underdogs at UF, but found a way
to win while playing many freshmen.
I hate it !

Kentucky has like 5 of the top 10 freshmen in the country. We will never have that.

 

[TNVOLFN]

We haven't needed for him to do it every game and won't going forward

I hear you, but in our two toughest road games, he had to go off just to keep the losses respectable.

 

[wmcovol]

I think I’d highly disagree with this. The adjustments at half were clear. We just got to get more from JJJ and Santi.

Every hs coach in Tennessee knows to press in the 2nd half down 13.

 

[whodeycin85]

That is a positive, but I wonder if it might be fool's gold. Knecht had to go off for us to get back in the game, can we depend on him to do that every time?

Idk if we need to depend on him everytime...but what I've seen is that during dry stretches... he drives and tries to make a play at the rim... and that usually starts the defense collapsing and open up others...he always looks to score in dry spells..whether he is successful is t a game killer as it usually opens up someone else to get hot

 

[87&91ALUM]

Mississippi State had three solid, I mean well built, tall and strong players who just overpowered our tall and thin bigs. Knecht went off but, need that sort of play for a full game from everyone. ZZ and Santi are good in defense but when their shooting is cold...they are a liability among bigger and stronger players. We got our butts kicked under the basket last night. When we play a team that we match up with size and intensity wise, we good. When we play a rough bunch of strong and stout men...we boys fold.

 

[berryvol]

Our offensive profile raised to 21st in KP last night. This team has all the analytical profiles of a title contender. Please, tell me more how we have a major offense problem and don’t belong in the top 10.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

It was on the road against a tough physical team that plays well at home. Vols could have come out the locker room better but lets give State some credit before some of you write this team off as a total failure. This won't be the last 'on the road loss' this yr.

 

[JohnWardForever]

Ya’ll only seem to care about offense or something. Santi is more than a 3 ball shooter.

Only played 5 minutes in 1st half & got 1 shot attempt, Vols were down by 13. He plays most the second half and the Vols score 50. He is a HUGE impact player on the floor with or without scoring. He has accepted that he’s the 3rd or 4th option on offense this year.

I don’t think anything’s wrong, but I do wish he was scoring 10+ a night consistently.

You have to admit that Vescovi has lost his shot. And that is hard to understand given his many hours of dedication to his game.

 

[SGMVols]

Our offensive profile raised to 21st in KP last night. This team has all the analytical profiles of a title contender. Please, tell me more how we have a major offense problem and don’t belong in the top 10.

We scored 50 in the 2nd half against a top 10 defense on the road. Only casuals think the offense is bad

 

[JohnWardForever]

It was on the road against a tough physical team that plays well at home. Vols could have come out the locker room better but lets give State some credit before some of you write this team off as a total failure. This won't be the last 'on the road loss' this yr.

Yep, likely. A classic Team at home coming off a bad loss looking for redemption vs a top 5 ranked team coming off a Blowout. Uncanny how often that happens...(See OMISS last night)

 

[cardvolfan]

JJJ looked like he had never played before!!! Him and Gainey should have their minutes cut! Pitiful

You’re looking at one game. No one, NO ONE, has a good or great game every time out. He’s been very good this year.

 

[cardvolfan]

Learned alot more about this team in this loss then we would have a win.....man they came back from 15 down and took a good team to the wire....I'm proud

This is a great post.

 

[KTrain]

We should drop to about 10. We have a problem on offense

What about the other 3 Top 5s that lost this week do they drop to 11-12 & 13 or are you gonna be a good guy & put them ahead of UT @ 7- 8 & 9 inquiring minds.

 

[JohnWardForever]

Agree.

Something is going on beyond mental, imo. Hope he’s ok but the costly turnovers, poor shooting …. He also seems a bit slower.


I noticed it tonight. Next game, take a look at his first few steps on both sides of the ball.

Thank you for that, It is really so obvious. I have my theories, and they're just that; but something has gone awry with Vescovi.

 

[Namorto1]

Too bad he gave up at least 2 layups & 2 dunks on the defensive end. Still hasn't figured out how to play D.

No one is going to suggest Knecht is a great man defender. Barnes didn't get him out of the portal because he played great defense and even gives him alot of credit for his effort to learn that end of the court. Guy played primarily in a zone defense at Northern Colorado vs inferior talent for two years. But he didn't give up "at least 2 layups and 2 dunks" yesterday. That isn't accurate. He had two breakdowns at 34 seconds left in 1st half and with 10:15 left in 2nd half. You are welcome to show the other instances where he gave up all those layups and dunks. Collectively we had a ton of breakdowns as we let MSU shoot 50% from the field.

The PG and the post, whom DK didn't guard for MSU, went for 25 and 23 respectively.

 

[orangemadam]

Worse part about this loss is that it puts Ky ahead of us in most polls unless Ky loses this wkend

 

[omghulkhands]

Road games are tough no doubt. State is just not that good. Not a good loss if you want to win an SEC title.

They are good lol. They were top 30 Ken pom through their non-conference without their best player.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Worse part about this loss is that it puts Ky ahead of us in most polls unless Ky loses this wkend

I couldn’t care less about a poll in January. Just win games and all of the “rankings” will sort themselves out.