Why the 2nd half meltdown?

[Fine Vol]

1. We did not attack the basket after a Off. shot for a Off. rebound like we did the first half.
2. Someone said we took our foot off the gas petal, yes. I like sucking up clock but we did the football equivalent of the prevent D, and that never works.
3. I would have liked to see a time out with 6.5. I like a plan more than running down the court to just panic.
4. We had Oden in foul trouble. It was picture perfect scenario, who blocked the last shot?:cray:
5. We must learn from this so next year we can win it all, and I am very proud of the Vols. Congrats on the finish.:salute:

 

[Sudeepvol]

yeah in the second half, it SEEMED like we were settling for three's instead of going right at Oden and GETTINGTHEBIGMANINFOULTOURBLE (a little bill raftery for u)..we should of easily fouled out oden...but i wouldn't say we lost because of a lack of effort...

 

[mtt2d]

WE did not play solid b-ball the 2nd half. We looked like sitting ducks on defense, and on offense, we lost our confidence. OSU is a good team, but we gave them that elite 8 appearance last night. I hope they are happy!

 

[jwells]

We had a plan for the last shot, it was for Chism to stop up at the foul line, or so, giving Ramar a one on one to the rim. Chism didn't stop, so Oden followed him on in and made the block. The key was to keep Oden away from the basket on that play...didnt' work.

 

[Big Orange Diesel]

I don't think we had a melt down in 2nd half. OSU came out in the 2nd half and played like the #1 team in the nation. Tennessee did a lot right in the 1st half but OSU did some things wrong also. OSU played a perfect game in the 2nd half and they still barely beat us. OSU's defense was smothering in the 2nd half.

 

[JZVOL]

:rock: :toast: :huh: :sick: :disappointed: :censored: :banghead2: :furious3: :flush: : :drive2:

these images represent how I felt starting with the tip off to Oden's block :machgun: me

 

[lawgator1]

yeah in the second half, it SEEMED like we were settling for three's instead of going right at Oden and GETTINGTHEBIGMANINFOULTOURBLE (a little bill raftery for u)..we should of easily fouled out oden...but i wouldn't say we lost because of a lack of effort...

Kind of hard to do when he basically played only about 4 minutes of the second half and pretty much only on the offensive end.

 

[therealUT]

I don't think we had a melt down in 2nd half. OSU came out in the 2nd half and played like the #1 team in the nation. Tennessee did a lot right in the 1st half but OSU did some things wrong also. OSU played a perfect game in the 2nd half and they still barely beat us. OSU's defense was smothering in the 2nd half.

I somewhat agree. We stopped attacking the basket in the second half (this also accounts for the foul disparity between the teams). If we had kept attacking the rim, Oden and Hunter probably would have had to enter the game sooner...and fouled out!

 

[therickbol]

I don't think we had a melt down in 2nd half. OSU came out in the 2nd half and played like the #1 team in the nation. Tennessee did a lot right in the 1st half but OSU did some things wrong also. OSU played a perfect game in the 2nd half and they still barely beat us. OSU's defense was smothering in the 2nd half.

This is the point astute observers should be making. All these "how did we melt down" crowd apparently think that the OSU of the 1st half was the real OSU. We did a lot of things amazingly well in the 1st half, but if that OSU team of the 1st half was the real OSU they would have way more than 3 losses on the season and not be ranked #1 in the country. OSU played up to their potential in the 2nd half and with the talent on the floor their potential was higher than ours. Does that mean there was nothing we could have done to stop it? No. If we do a small thing, hit FT's, then we survive against a superior team. Bottom line.

 

[BigPapaVol]

Say what you will about OSU's great play in the second half, but I'm not buying it. We lost our aggressiveness and replaced it with tentativeness in every aspect of our game. I understand why and don't think there are any excuses. UT is not accustomed to having such lofty things on the line and spit the bit just a tad. Takes some experience in games like that and we showed our lack of it. OSU is no more experienced, but won because they expected to and we lost because we tried really hard not to.