My Take

[sutomcat]

Strange game. We led almost the whole first half and then collapsed late to give the Vols a 5 point lead.

Second half, we outscored them by 2 until the last 3 minutes or so, when we completely fell apart again.

Do we have fitness issues? Based on the Colgate game, probably not. We do have consistency issues. They haven’t cost us a game until today.

Props to UT for playing tough, physical defense. Our team isn’t like that and we actually responded better than I thought we might. If the refs called what I would consider a normal game, maybe we win this one.

But I think the biggest reason we lost was bad defense. We played good solid man defense maybe 1/3 of the possessions. But way too often we just seemed to lose focus and let a UT player dribble all the way to the basket unchallenged. Like we have been doing since the first exhibition game. Good job by the UT staff to see we have issues here. I think for the most part, Judah, JJ and Justin play good man defense. Bell, Benny, Nadeem , Kyle and Q seem to have limited attention spans and usually let their man go by them and get to the basket. It looks to as though Bell does this on purpose and his strategy is to try and get the block from behind.

That might work against 6’2 power forwards in HS but you can’t do that at this level. All of these guys sometimes look motivated on defense and sometimes stay in front of their man and play good defense. They are all capable of this. And that makes it all the more disappointing when they fail over and over.

The offense struggled all game long. Poor ball movement. Guys going 1 on 2 all the time. No one hits the offensive boards. Seemingly ever. People don’t even position themselves well for a pass. Most of this lies with Judah and his continuing struggles to run the offense and play like a point guard. Right now he is in shoot first mode. It doesn’t help that players aren’t cutting to the hoop or running to open spots when he drives.

No one is even trying to play the low post. Nadeem stands down there but has no interest in the ball. If by chance he gets it, he immediately kicks it out. Doesn’t even look at the hoop. MaliQ just stands on the high post and passes it to someone on the perimeter. Another guy with no interest in trying to score.

I thought Starling was probably our best offensive player. He got to the hoop repeatedly and missed a lot of short easy shots. Yes, he got bodied a lot and sometimes really hard. But you have to make some of those shots. Hopefully he is able to finish better the rest of the season. This was the first time I have seen him struggle to finish.

Nice job by Justin on the boards but he needs to do more than that. He was quite good defensively too but he isn’t getting many shots and isn’t making many either. I would never have guessed he would lead the team in rebounding this season. As of today, it looks like pretty much a lock to happen..

UT is a top 10 team. I think they did not play well and with all the injuries they had, we had a real chance to get an upset. We really don’t play bad. Just not great either.

Let’s hope we play better tomorrow. It is going to be tough. Again.

 

[JustPherU]

Strange game. We led almost the whole first half and then collapsed late to give the Vols a 5 point lead.

Second half, we outscored them by 2 until the last 3 minutes or so, when we completely fell apart again.

Do we have fitness issues? Based on the Colgate game, probably not. We do have consistency issues. They haven’t cost us a game until today.

Props to UT for playing tough, physical defense. Our team isn’t like that and we actually responded better than I thought we might. If the refs called what I would consider a normal game, maybe we win this one.

But I think the biggest reason we lost was bad defense. We played good solid man defense maybe 1/3 of the possessions. But way too often we just seemed to lose focus and let a UT player dribble all the way to the basket unchallenged. Like we have been doing since the first exhibition game. Good job by the UT staff to see we have issues here. I think for the most part, Judah, JJ and Justin play good man defense. Bell, Benny, Nadeem , Kyle and Q seem to have limited attention spans and usually let their man go by them and get to the basket. It looks to as though Bell does this on purpose and his strategy is to try and get the block from behind.

That might work against 6’2 power forwards in HS but you can’t do that at this level. All of these guys sometimes look motivated on defense and sometimes stay in front of their man and play good defense. They are all capable of this. And that makes it all the more disappointing when they fail over and over.

The offense struggled all game long. Poor ball movement. Guys going 1 on 2 all the time. No one hits the offensive boards. Seemingly ever. People don’t even position themselves well for a pass. Most of this lies with Judah and his continuing struggles to run the offense and play like a point guard. Right now he is in shoot first mode. It doesn’t help that players aren’t cutting to the hoop or running to open spots when he drives.

No one is even trying to play the low post. Nadeem stands down there but has no interest in the ball. If by chance he gets it, he immediately kicks it out. Doesn’t even look at the hoop. MaliQ just stands on the high post and passes it to someone on the perimeter. Another guy with no interest in trying to score.

I thought Starling was probably our best offensive player. He got to the hoop repeatedly and missed a lot of short easy shots. Yes, he got bodied a lot and sometimes really hard. But you have to make some of those shots. Hopefully he is able to finish better the rest of the season. This was the first time I have seen him struggle to finish.

Nice job by Justin on the boards but he needs to do more than that. He was quite good defensively too but he isn’t getting many shots and isn’t making many either. I would never have guessed he would lead the team in rebounding this season. As of today, it looks like pretty much a lock to happen..

UT is a top 10 team. I think they did not play well and with all the injuries they had, we had a real chance to get an upset. We really don’t play bad. Just not great either.

Let’s hope we play better tomorrow. It is going to be tough. Again.

Starling our best offensive player?

 

[Madbiker]

Bell is the only shooter the defense has to account for. The other guys you can let take the 15 footer and especially the trey all day long. This is not a good outside shooting team and I doubt that will change this season. We do have several guys who can drive it. If we play scrappy defense for 40 minutes and not just 30 minutes we can stay in games against good teams -- maybe.

 

[upperdeck]

we dont have a forward who wants to do anything down low. That forces us to have guards who want to try half way and settle for tough shots.

Still way too many times the shot goes up and not one person is going to the rim.

If Tenn is a top 7 team then we showed we can be top 30, But are they?

 

[domestu]

Taylor was the only player with more than four rebounds as Tennessee grabbed fifteen more than SU.

 

[721Comstock]

we dont have a forward who wants to do anything down low. That forces us to have guards who want to try half way and settle for tough shots.

Still way too many times the shot goes up and not one person is going to the rim.

If Tenn is a top 7 team then we showed we can be top 30, But are they?

They're currently #1 in D.

And they are athletic, and very experienced.

I hesitate to say "well coached", because Rick Barnes has done less with more for decades.
But he's not learning on the fly like Red is, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt there.

 

[upperdeck]

If they are a really good D than the only reason we didnt score 70 was FTs and we have not shotten that poorly all years so hopefully its a one off.

I hope they are a great D then 30% of the bad shot cycles go away against most teams.

 

[SUbear]

Taylor was the only player with more than four rebounds as Tennessee grabbed fifteen more than SU.

Given our terrible rebounding we should not have even been close, improve rebounding and we might be in contention.

 

[sutomcat]

Starling our best offensive player?

He got the most and best shots. But he didn’t make many. Bell probably was our best but he is pretty dependent on his teammates getting him good looks.

Not a great day on offense for any Orangeman today.

 

[tbonezone]

UT is a top 10 team.

it's november. they have a good proven coach and some talent front court and back but it's early yet.
they come out of this tournament unbeaten then YES.

 

[djcon57]

Taylor was the only player with more than four rebounds as Tennessee grabbed fifteen more than SU.

Yeah...I know we're speculating that Brown is hurt, but who knows...all I know is he looks like a different guy on the boards so far this year. His TRB% was 12.9 last year vs 9.9 so far this year not counting this game. Maybe Jesse taking up space helped? Regardless...It's very disappointing. We need him on the glass if he's going to play.

 

[blust2i3d4]

Strange game. We led almost the whole first half and then collapsed late to give the Vols a 5 point lead.

Second half, we outscored them by 2 until the last 3 minutes or so, when we completely fell apart again.

Do we have fitness issues? Based on the Colgate game, probably not. We do have consistency issues. They haven’t cost us a game until today.

Props to UT for playing tough, physical defense. Our team isn’t like that and we actually responded better than I thought we might. If the refs called what I would consider a normal game, maybe we win this one.

But I think the biggest reason we lost was bad defense. We played good solid man defense maybe 1/3 of the possessions. But way too often we just seemed to lose focus and let a UT player dribble all the way to the basket unchallenged. Like we have been doing since the first exhibition game. Good job by the UT staff to see we have issues here. I think for the most part, Judah, JJ and Justin play good man defense. Bell, Benny, Nadeem , Kyle and Q seem to have limited attention spans and usually let their man go by them and get to the basket. It looks to as though Bell does this on purpose and his strategy is to try and get the block from behind.

That might work against 6’2 power forwards in HS but you can’t do that at this level. All of these guys sometimes look motivated on defense and sometimes stay in front of their man and play good defense. They are all capable of this. And that makes it all the more disappointing when they fail over and over.

The offense struggled all game long. Poor ball movement. Guys going 1 on 2 all the time. No one hits the offensive boards. Seemingly ever. People don’t even position themselves well for a pass. Most of this lies with Judah and his continuing struggles to run the offense and play like a point guard. Right now he is in shoot first mode. It doesn’t help that players aren’t cutting to the hoop or running to open spots when he drives.

No one is even trying to play the low post. Nadeem stands down there but has no interest in the ball. If by chance he gets it, he immediately kicks it out. Doesn’t even look at the hoop. MaliQ just stands on the high post and passes it to someone on the perimeter. Another guy with no interest in trying to score.

I thought Starling was probably our best offensive player. He got to the hoop repeatedly and missed a lot of short easy shots. Yes, he got bodied a lot and sometimes really hard. But you have to make some of those shots. Hopefully he is able to finish better the rest of the season. This was the first time I have seen him struggle to finish.

Nice job by Justin on the boards but he needs to do more than that. He was quite good defensively too but he isn’t getting many shots and isn’t making many either. I would never have guessed he would lead the team in rebounding this season. As of today, it looks like pretty much a lock to happen..

UT is a top 10 team. I think they did not play well and with all the injuries they had, we had a real chance to get an upset. We really don’t play bad. Just not great either.

Let’s hope we play better tomorrow. It is going to be tough. Again.

Good teams close up each half well. And never panic. We have good ingredients but cannot make a good team off them.

 

[Dcuse]

Bell is the only shooter the defense has to account for. The other guys you can let take the 15 footer and especially the trey all day long. This is not a good outside shooting team and I doubt that will change this season. We do have several guys who can drive it. If we play scrappy defense for 40 minutes and not just 30 minutes we can stay in games against good teams -- maybe.

So wrong. Taylor is our best shooter. Benny also has to be “ accounted” for.

 

[JustPherU]

He got the most and best shots. But he didn’t make many. Bell probably was our best but he is pretty dependent on his teammates getting him good looks.

Not a great day on offense for any Orangeman today.

I’ll agree tough day on offense and nobody really deserves accolades for their performance but I thought JJ was terrible

 

[SUGIANT]

Bell is the only shooter the defense has to account for. The other guys you can let take the 15 footer and especially the trey all day long. This is not a good outside shooting team and I doubt that will change this season. We do have several guys who can drive it. If we play scrappy defense for 40 minutes and not just 30 minutes we can stay in games against good teams -- maybe.

I think u need to account for Taylor also, 3 pt wise.

 

[CardiacCuse]

we dont have a forward who wants to do anything down low. That forces us to have guards who want to try half way and settle for tough shots.

Still way too many times the shot goes up and not one person is going to the rim.

If Tenn is a top 7 team then we showed we can be top 30, But are they?

need to post up the guards...its the only way...

 

[CardiacCuse]

Strange game. We led almost the whole first half and then collapsed late to give the Vols a 5 point lead.

Second half, we outscored them by 2 until the last 3 minutes or so, when we completely fell apart again.

Do we have fitness issues? Based on the Colgate game, probably not. We do have consistency issues. They haven’t cost us a game until today.

Props to UT for playing tough, physical defense. Our team isn’t like that and we actually responded better than I thought we might. If the refs called what I would consider a normal game, maybe we win this one.

But I think the biggest reason we lost was bad defense. We played good solid man defense maybe 1/3 of the possessions. But way too often we just seemed to lose focus and let a UT player dribble all the way to the basket unchallenged. Like we have been doing since the first exhibition game. Good job by the UT staff to see we have issues here. I think for the most part, Judah, JJ and Justin play good man defense. Bell, Benny, Nadeem , Kyle and Q seem to have limited attention spans and usually let their man go by them and get to the basket. It looks to as though Bell does this on purpose and his strategy is to try and get the block from behind.

That might work against 6’2 power forwards in HS but you can’t do that at this level. All of these guys sometimes look motivated on defense and sometimes stay in front of their man and play good defense. They are all capable of this. And that makes it all the more disappointing when they fail over and over.

The offense struggled all game long. Poor ball movement. Guys going 1 on 2 all the time. No one hits the offensive boards. Seemingly ever. People don’t even position themselves well for a pass. Most of this lies with Judah and his continuing struggles to run the offense and play like a point guard. Right now he is in shoot first mode. It doesn’t help that players aren’t cutting to the hoop or running to open spots when he drives.

No one is even trying to play the low post. Nadeem stands down there but has no interest in the ball. If by chance he gets it, he immediately kicks it out. Doesn’t even look at the hoop. MaliQ just stands on the high post and passes it to someone on the perimeter. Another guy with no interest in trying to score.

I thought Starling was probably our best offensive player. He got to the hoop repeatedly and missed a lot of short easy shots. Yes, he got bodied a lot and sometimes really hard. But you have to make some of those shots. Hopefully he is able to finish better the rest of the season. This was the first time I have seen him struggle to finish.

Nice job by Justin on the boards but he needs to do more than that. He was quite good defensively too but he isn’t getting many shots and isn’t making many either. I would never have guessed he would lead the team in rebounding this season. As of today, it looks like pretty much a lock to happen..

UT is a top 10 team. I think they did not play well and with all the injuries they had, we had a real chance to get an upset. We really don’t play bad. Just not great either.

Let’s hope we play better tomorrow. It is going to be tough. Again.

disagree...the defense was fine...


it was the offense tht is the problem...the halfcourt offense is putrid.

i'd run post ups for starling and mintz and maybe taylor and benny too

glad to see the bench get exposed this game...players like carey arent ready for this level of play...hopefully red takes note.

i agree about the reffing...I hate how they call these games now...every slight touch in the 1st...then demolition derby in the 2nd...puts a team like tenn at a great advantage.

not really impressed by tenn...didnt see any NBA talents.

 

[malpearl31]

So wrong. Taylor is our best shooter. Benny also has to be “ accounted” for.

There’s a lot to like about Taylor. His work on the defensive glass has been amazing so far. And I think that when he’s a senior, he’s going to be a really good college player - maybe even 1st team all-ACC. But he’s just not an effective college player right now on offense. His usage rate is way too low, and he just doesn’t do enough with the ball in his hands (create for others, get to the FT line) to be a good player right now. We need guys to be aggressive and put pressure on the defense, and Taylor’s struggling to do that right now.

 

[SUGIANT]

Taylor was the only player with more than four rebounds as Tennessee grabbed fifteen more than SU.

Rebounding seems to be a big issue with this team. It was plain to see early in the game, I thought they stared to do better later in the game, but sometimes I was wondering how that 7’4” guy gets out rebounded so consistently.

Dare I say I thought Benny looked better tonight?

 

[djcon57]

need to post up the guards...its the only way...

What have you seen from any of our guards that suggests that they any have any post up game at all?

 

[Dcuse]

There’s a lot to like about Taylor. His work on the defensive glass has been amazing so far. And I think that when he’s a senior, he’s going to be a really good college player - maybe even 1st team all-ACC. But he’s just not an effective college player right now on offense. His usage rate is way too low, and he just doesn’t do enough with the ball in his hands (create for others, get to the FT line) to be a good player right now. We need guys to be aggressive and put pressure on the defense, and Taylor’s struggling to do that right now.

That’s true but he is still the best shooter on the team and has to be accounted for.

 

[malpearl31]

That’s true but he is still the best shooter on the team and has to be accounted for.

If you go by eFG%, he’s not… but even if Taylor is our best shooter, he has to be able to create more offense… he can’t play 30 minutes and score zero points… he’s averaging 3 ppg in his last 2 games while playing 30 mpg… nobody is ‘accounting for’ a guy like that, unfortunately.

 

[Newhouser]

Yeah...I know we're speculating that Brown is hurt, but who knows...all I know is he looks like a different guy on the boards so far this year. His TRB% was 12.9 last year vs 9.9 so far this year not counting this game. Maybe Jesse taking up space helped? Regardless...It's very disappointing. We need him on the glass if he's going to play.

First half he went after a fifty fifty ball near mid court. Looked like he didn't want to break eggs his effort was so poor. He has to be hurt. No other explanation.

 

[djcon57]

First half he went after a fifty fifty ball near mid court. Looked like he didn't want to break eggs his effort was so poor. He has to be hurt. No other explanation.

That play was quite noticeable to me as well. He was like speed walking to the ball

 

[AZOrange]

This team needs a month to play together…if we are not better after that fine. But we’re too young and too new to be good. I’d press more