Tennessee 47, LSU 45: how to win a game in 19 seconds

by Joel Hollingsworth on Feb 9, 2008 5:25 PM EST in Tennessee Volunteer Basketball

In-game conversation of the fans, the announcers, and, it appears, the coaches and players as well:

John Brady's been fired. Brady. Brady. Blah, blah, blah. Butch Pierre. Bruce Pearl has done wonderful things in Knoxville. Blah, blah, Brady, Brady, Brady. Weight room. Blah. Point guard, none for LSU. Brady. Oh, wait. What? It's a tie game with 19 seconds left and they have the ball? Oh, no. Get The Pest, quick! [JaJuan Smith immediately goes in for J.P. Prince, steals the ball within seconds, and races to the basket for an easy layup and the lead. The team forces LSU to take a bad shot on the other end and we win.] Whoa. That was close. What time is it? Where am I? Who are you?


45	Points	47
20/50 - 40%	Field Goals	19/60 - 31%
3/20 - 15%	3-Point FGs	5/19 - 26%
2/4 - 50%	Free Throws	4/15 - 26%
38 (14/24)	Rebounds (Off-Def)	39 (22/17)
18	Total Fouls	13
8	Steals	13
9	Blocks	5
6	Assists	6
22	Turnovers	15
.2	Assist/Turnover	.4
5	Bench Points	9

That about sums it up. Oh, and we have JaJuan Smith and they don't.

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Lucky skunks

LSU tried harder. Period. That's partly why they outfouled us so much. (Which is also why they only shot 4 free throws.) That 0.311 field goal percentage doesn't speak highly of the game.

Bizarre game. Under any normal circumstance, UT would have lost that one. Then again, under a normal circumstance, the team might have played differently. They seemed to take it for granted that they'd win, and LSU seemed to be auditioning for their jobs for next year for whomever the new coach is. Let us hope that was the last "lights-off, nobody home" game we have this year.

Oh, and Lofton needs to shoot more 3s.

by David Hooper on Feb 9, 2008 5:30 PM EST reply actions

Tortoise and the hare

only this time, the hare woke up with 19 seconds left and outscored the tortoise 2-0.

by David Hooper on Feb 9, 2008 5:34 PM EST reply actions

Kentucky

We saw that kind of slop when we visited Lexington last month. It's like our guys just expect the other team to lay down and submit. In case they need a reminder, they do play in the SEC, where anybody can beat anybody, any time, any place, under any circumstances.

I thought that lesson had been learned; now I'm not so sure.

But, in the end, a win is a win. Congrats for that.

by Aerobab on Feb 9, 2008 6:08 PM EST reply actions

It seemed like...

we were getting the steals we normally get but would lose the ball right back before turning them into points and that really disrupted our rhythm more than anything. Thats my 2 cents, but a win is a win is a win.

by Getoffmyvols on Feb 9, 2008 6:53 PM EST reply actions

In postgame

Pearl noted that several of the players were hurting. He said that JaJuan in particular was in pain and wasn't likely to be back in the game at all, except that that last series meant everything. That would explain some of the difficulties they had.

Additionally, Pearl had very, very gracious words about Brady and basically felt that his firing was a really bad thing. He was worried that the firing was supposedly over a lack of wins when the guy went to the Final Four two years ago, and what kind of a standard that sets in place for all the SEC coaches. Pearl was total class about the firing, and didn't seem to have any ill will toward the guy, which is a good thing to hear.

by David Hooper on Feb 9, 2008 7:56 PM EST reply actions