NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Several snippets of basketball awfulness work to tell the story of the worst the Tennessee Volunteers have played the game all season, but let’s go with this from Friday’s 73-56 loss to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament quarterfinals:
Star scorer Dalton Knecht makes a nice move to get into the lane, giving himself a clear path to a layup. But he blows it, the ball grazing the rim before hitting the glass, so he has to try to tip it back in — offensive goaltending. Five seconds later, Mississippi State freshman Josh Hubbard has dribbled past Vols pressure but is a bit out of control and puts a shot off the backboard that has no chance. Rather than rebound it, Tennessee big man Tobe Awaka blocks it as it comes off the glass — defensive goaltending.
It was that kind of day. Actually, it was worse — those are kind examples of the ineptitude the Vols made their fans, who packed Bridgestone Arena but didn’t get a chance to sound like it, witness. Maybe they did them a solid. Maybe this was fair warning of what’s to come, after so much talk of the first No. 1 seed and Final Four in program history.
“If we go out and do that again,” Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler said, “it’s gonna be the end of the season.”
“If we go out there and do that again, it’s gonna be the end of the season.” – Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler after the top-seeded Vols’ lopsided loss to Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. pic.twitter.com/HaPfeKw6P6
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) March 15, 2024
Maybe this will be the thing the Vols point back to, a helpful humbling, after resetting and getting back to themselves next weekend, almost certainly in Charlotte as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Even if that’s the case and they reach the Sweet 16, not getting a No. 1 seed means they might have to see Connecticut or Purdue in the second weekend. And Friday was a glaring look at why they need to avoid what both of those teams have: dominant bigs.
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But that seems so distant right now, doesn’t it? The immediate mission is to avoid disaster, which is what failing to advance past the first NCAA weekend would be for Rick Barnes and his team. Any No. 15 seed in the history of the tournament would sign up to play that version of the Vols.
“We just weren’t ready to go,” senior guard Josiah James said, in a concerning admission.
“I feel like we came into the game just thinking we were gonna win the game,” junior center Jonas Aidoo said, in another one.
“I told them, I said, ‘Let’s just sit here and think about how we feel right now,” Barnes said afterward of the postgame address to his players. “‘Let’s just talk about it, sit here and marinate in how you feel right now. If you feel like this again, it’s over. I want you to not forget right now what you did.’”
As much as one stinker in a conference tournament for the regular-season champion doesn’t undo what’s been done and can’t foretell what’s to come in the tournament that matters most, I really didn’t like what I saw from the Vols (24-8) on Friday. Not the weakness and lack of awareness inside against the great Tolu Smith. Not the turning down of open shots and clanking of bad ones. Not the Bulldogs’ shocking ability to drive to the basket whenever, against whomever.
Mississippi State (21-12) gets a nod, of course, and an NCAA bid for sure. Smith’s presence had the Vols in rotation before the game even started, and shooting star Hubbard (18 points) and long slasher Cameron Matthews (18 points, seven makes on seven 2-point tries) took advantage. The Bulldogs swarmed the ball as they like to do, forcing 14 turnovers and never letting Aidoo or Awaka get comfortable. MSU is a tough matchup for Tennessee, which is why MSU is 2-0 against Tennessee.
“Really felt our only chance was to hit them in the mouth,” Bulldogs coach Chris Jans said. “We had to come out and attack them, just get our toughness in the game and see if we could rattle them a little bit. Our plan was super aggressive in everything we were doing defensively and even offensively for that matter.”
Good stuff on their part. But it’s hard to understand how that worked so well, how the Vols went all glass-jaw in response, after all they’ve done this season to earn trust. They lost early season games to Purdue (dominant big man), Kansas (ditto) and North Carolina (ditto) but were in every game until the end. They won the SEC, one of two dominant leagues in the sport this season along with the Big 12, outright despite playing three of the other top four teams twice each.
Tennessee went into Alabama and held the (then) most efficient offense in the sport without a basket for nine minutes. Tennessee went to South Carolina and out-toughed the toughest team in the league. This is a top-five defensive efficiency team and top-25 offensive efficiency team, with a lottery pick who scores at will, a bulldog point guard in Zeigler and experienced support in all the right spots.
But the lottery pick was taking too many quick, contested shots in this game, and his teammates were too often hesitating on in-rhythm opportunities that needed to go up but didn’t. Knecht ended up 4-for-17 (2-for-9 from 3-point range) for 14 points. Tennessee was an unsightly 8-for-33 from distance.
“Why isn’t Dalton Knecht in the NPOY conversation??”
The answer:
pic.twitter.com/FXVXRSuSXU— Mark Titus Show (@MarkTitusShow) March 15, 2024
Defensively, the Vols were staying attached to poor shooters rather than being in the gaps like they normally are on drivers. They were on the receiving end of four dunks — it felt like more — and 15 layups as a result.
Poise and focus, two of this team’s consistent traits and two of the most valuable commodities for any team this month, eluded the Vols. That’s troubling. As is a veteran team letting shooting struggles lead to uncharacteristic defensive gaffes.
“In no way, shape or form should making or missing shots affect our defense,” said UT junior guard Jahmai Mashack, who was mostly himself with a solid game Friday. “I think that has a lot to do with what went on in this game. I think it got to our heads. That can’t happen in basketball, man. You can’t be perfect.”
Said Zeigler: “Can’t let that happen, and that definitely happened today.”
Offensive ills have done in previous Tennessee teams under Barnes in March, though to be accurate, he won this tournament two years ago, and he’s 6-5 in the NCAA Tournament with two Sweet 16s with the Vols. That’s not as good as it should be, but let’s not pretend Friday was typical “Barnes in March” fare.
Friday was ugly. Friday was a punking. Friday was a bumbling mess. Friday came out of nowhere.
Friday was a valuable lesson that a great team will absorb and put to effective use after the benefit of extra rest and reflection. Or a grim omen. I’d lean toward the former, as long as the Vols are at least as angry as the Vols fans who filed out of Bridgestone with nothing to do for the rest of the weekend.
(Photo of Dalton Knecht: Christopher Hanewinckel / USA Today)
