Tennessee 80 Arkansas 73 - You wouldn't like us when we're angry
by Will on Mar 3, 2010 9:46 PM EST
in Tennessee Volunteer Basketball
30 comments
Arkansas is a pesky team with several talented players. Everytime the Vols wanted to run away, the Hogs battled back to make it interesting. Courtney Fortson certainly did his part, with 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists.
So here we were again, with Arkansas having closed a nine point lead down to 51-48 with more than 14:00 still remaining. When Bruce Pearl saw something he didn't like, he let the referees know...and they hit Pearl with a T.
And then Bruce hulked up. And so did the Vols.
Tennessee went on a 10-0 run following the technical foul, and never let Arkansas get closer than six points the rest of the way. Arkansas was good, but Tennessee was better, and the Vols won the day, 80-73.
It was the first time Tennessee scored in the 80s since the SEC opener against Auburn, and the Vols used several highlight reel dunks along the way. The word of the night was balance, and these numbers have to make Bruce Pearl happy: five players scored in double figures (Hopson 15, Chism 14, Maze 12, Prince 12, Tatum 12...and Goins had 9). The Vols did slow themselves down with 17 turnovers, playing at a faster pace than we've seen in weeks...but Tennessee still shot 54.5% from the floor, were an impressive 14 of 18 (77.8%) at the line, and had 20 assists on 30 made baskets.
The pieces were good: Scotty Hopson scored 15 points for the third straight conference game, a first in his career and his quest for consistency. The seniors all contributed in big ways on Senior Night. And if the Vols can continue to get what they got tonight from Cameron Tatum and Melvin Goins off the bench, Tennessee has a chance to do some real damage in March.
This team has now fully worked its way back to pre-arrest form, more or less. What I mean by that is the guys who made plays in the win over #1 Kansas - Skylar McBee, Kenny Hall, Renaldo Woolridge - have once again moved to the backburner (11 total minutes tonight combined, as Woolridge continues to see no action), and the players we originally thought gave us the best chance to win are now stepping up again. The return of Tatum, Goins, and Brian Williams to the full rotation, and the continued spark provided by Steven Pearl, makes Tennessee both deep and dangerous once more.
With the win tonight, the Vols lock up third place in the SEC East, and the date with LSU in the first round of the SEC Tournament next week. Before that, they'll have a chance to make Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Florida a perfect 24-0 against the SEC West if they can win in Starkville on Saturday night, a game that will be of great importance to the Bulldogs' tournament hopes, and can also improve the Vols' seeding. Tennessee also locked up their fifth straight 10+ win season in SEC play, to go with Pearl's five year run of 20+ overall wins. It still can't be stressed enough that a five year run of 20+ wins and 10+ conference wins is unheard of around these parts.
Whether this team is peaking right now or not is a question we'll take to Starkville. But the Vols are becoming more consistent. And if they can keep that part going, they'll peak at exactly the right time.
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Auburn beats Mississippi State 89-80
making Saturday’s game an absolute must-win for Mississippi State’s tournament hopes
I wonder if that's good or bad
Perhaps MSU’s backs are against the wall. But I’m not convinced.
The general wisdom is that they needed to sweep this week, and they’ve already lost their first. It may be that they feel like they’ve lost their last chance and come out dejected.
Either way, a win there would be great for both momentum and seeding.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 3, 2010 10:28 PM EST up reply actions
not with the opportunity to beat us
if they beat us and win at least 1 in the SEC tournament then I think they will slide in
At the very least, that's what their coach is telling them.
They’re going to play that game as if that’s true.
It definitely is what their coach is telling them
And it may be true. But recovery from emotional losses like this are always tricky. I think they’re equally likely to come out like a house afire or mail it in entirely.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 3, 2010 10:55 PM EST up reply actions
It should ride on their emotions
which means if the Vols can get a quick jump on them, they might be able to deflate MSU and end it early.
Unfortunately, we're bad at quick jumps
Although jumps as quick as the ones against UK and Arkansas should do fine if we can pull it off.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 3, 2010 11:08 PM EST up reply actions
in other words, i think they will come out gunning
i think it makes it even harder to play them after they lost tonight
I agree the the last 2 paragraphs
the game at Mississippi State will be a great test for Tennessee. I think the team finally has found a solid rotation, and hopefully they can build off of it with some consistency.
I think it will be an interesting match-up. Mississippi State relies heavily on outside shooting, and Tennessee is 12th in the nation at defending the 3. But on the flip side, we are not a particularly good 3 point shooting team and must rely more on inside scoring. MSU is 3rd in the nation in 2pt % defense (mainly because of Jarvis Varnado). Because MSU plays man, I expect to see Chism out on the perimeter more like what Pearl has drawn up in the past against good big men.
as said before, moving chism outside will open up driving lanes
which is probably a good strategy against a team that is as thin as MSU – draw fouls. Auburn was able to beat them tonight in large part because they drew a lot of fouls and shot a lot of free throws.
btw, when they showed our resume tonight, i was surprised to see that USC's RPI was 104
then i looked at their schedule, and they have really bombed their last few games scoring under 50 points in each of their last 3 games and to terrible teams, obviously all losses. It seems that we played them during the peak of their season. They stink now.
You just have to wonder
that’s a team with no postseason future, and something like that has to catch up with you sooner or later – when other teams are gearing up for the tournament, they have nothing to play for but pride, in a year where they would’ve been penciled in as a tournament team back in January…surely that makes a difference on some level.
Scoring under 50 points? Who's their coach? Kevin O'Neill? LOL!
Oh, it actually is? My bad. Carry on.
Lou Brock loves Lamp.
If Ifs and Buts were candy and nuts
Steven Pearl played a great game tonight, If he could only shoot. great game anyway. Go Vols!!!!, Old Smokey
volman
Sounds like Pearl is really not happy with this performance
I think he’s trying to show this team that it’s time to expect more, and perhaps they’ve earned the right for us to expect more out of them…but either way, I’m happy with the win. Maybe he’s pushing the right buttons to get even more out of them by not being satisfied with what we saw tonight.
Yep
Listening to the postgame show, Pearl talks about having different expectations for March, and not apologizing for it:
“I don’t want this thing to end. And if we play like this, it’s going to end, soon.”
Would have loved to be sitting next to Skylar right after the technical
Absolutely hilarious to see Pearl turn around and light into McBee for no other reason than he was sitting in the wrong spot. Ole Dave Baker never did let that go…
Also, I have a feeling Steven Pearl will be mentioning that block to get a few more “pictures” taken. ;-)
"I condone fun things" ~~ Cortland Finnegan
I disagreed with almost everything written, until the Pearl quote in Will's comment
if we play like this, it’s going to end, soon – Bruce Pearl post-game
Aside from the 10-0 run, we were sloppy with the basketball and played fairly poor basketball. It was painful and frustrating to watch.
How many turnovers did we see from lazy passes or poor ball handling (as opposed to stellar play by the opposition that truly forced the TN turnover)? Arkansas is a not a good defensive team, relying on stripping and ripping. We had spots where we passed the ball well in the post, against porous Arkansas defense, but overall, it felt like we had pretty average execution offensively.
There was nothing consistent about that effort, except generally average-to-poor play. If we played a higher calibre team, we’d be lamenting the loss. Let’s throw that in the Ugly Win category and move on.
Steven Pearl was terrific. The most hilarious comment by the talking heads: comparing Pearl’s come-from-behind block of Fortson’s lay-up to something LeBron James would do. I love his effort. He reminds me of a less-talented Dane Bradshaw. He does not remind me of LeBron…
To be fair, you guys are spot on with the MSU comments
MSU will be told that they have a chance to get in the tournament with a win against us and good play in the SEC tourney. They most likely bounced themselves by losing to Auburn, unless they get to the SEC finals or beat Kentucky or do something else dramatic in the SEC’s.
wait.....
so you disagree with pearl’s comments that if they play like this, they will lose early in the tournament and be done with?
Correct, hooper
I disagreed with the overly optimistic tone elsewhere in the piece…
I'll defer to Pearl's opinion
…maybe it looked better than it actually was because we scored 80 points for the first time since the SEC opener. It that sense, I didn’t think it was ugly, I just thought it took longer to get it done than I thought it would. But if the head coach isn’t happy with it – and I was surprised by that, to a degree, the same way the players were – then I’ll be hopeful that we can actually still play better.
I think he was disappointed because
Arkansas really isn’t a good team at all. We struggled to beat them. That’s why I called it ugly. Had to rely on one 10-0 run.
But, we won. Whew!
It's really the same thing as Summitt's anger with her team.
Consider that the Lady Vols are 27-2 and a lock for a #1 seed (so long as they don’t totally blow it in their first SEC game; even a close loss should be sufficient, though), and they have zero seniors and only two juniors on the roster. Yet she’s been angry enough at the team to have GVX pleading for her to ease up.
But it’s because she sees what the Lady Vols can be, and how different that is from what they often are. The men’s team appears the same to me – a lot of ridiculous potential that is often left on the shelf.
Call it one of those good-is-the-enemy-of-great deals.
I agree we are just-good-not-great but
the Lady Vols are a whole lot better relative to their peers. The Lady Vols are 27-2, winning the SEC and a lock for #1 seed.
We are 22-7, #30 according to KenPom, 3rd in our half of the SEC and we are a #5 seed (CBS).
We do have a lot of potential (Scotty) but I’m not sure we can get to the Lady Vols level until next year’s class arrives.
Good point... I am huge on expecting effort every night
I love the 110% award kids like Dane Bradshaw. Wish that JP had Bradshaw’s heart. With his talent, he could have been amazing every night instead of just the ESPN games…
I want Kansas effort as much as possible. I hate Arkansas effort or Auburn game of last year effort.
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