The Vols fell to Georgia Tech 69-67 Monday evening in the first road game of the Rick Barnes Era. Tennessee battled for much of the night before seemingly running out of gas late. The game went final when a Devon Baulkman 3-point attempt missed as the time expired. Here are five observations from the game.
Crashing the Boards: After getting outrebounded 36-33 by UNC Asheville in the season opener, the Vols pounded the glass early against Georgia Tech and held a 27-21 advantage on the boards at halftime. Perhaps more impressively, the men in orange grabbed 14 first half offensive rebounds. The Vols won’t out muscle anyone this season. Their ability to win the battle of the boards depends solely on their guards crashing the glass. Barnes focused on that message after Friday’s game and his players apparently took it to heart. No one better exemplified Barnes’ message than 6-1, 175 pound guard Detrick Mostella – he pulled in six rebounds. Tennessee finished the game with a 53-47 advantage on the glass.
10-0 Run Surrenders Lead: The Vols led 55-48 before they started to look winded. A 10-0 Georgia Tech run put the Yellow Jackets back in the lead 58-55 before a McGhee layup with 8:28 remaining stopped the bleeding and cut the lead to one. Kevin Punter had a chance to tie it at 69 with 1:19 to play but, after battling cramps for much of the second half, couldn’t convert from the charity stripe. Tennessee had other chances down the stretch to tie it or take the lead but simply couldn’t get over the hump.
Career-High for McGhee…Again: McGhee missed most of last season after breaking his foot against North Carolina State, but he showed promise early in the season. He scored a career-high nine points in 17 minutes of action against UNC Asheville in the season opener and surpassed that performance with 10 points on 5/8 shooting against Georgia Tech. Getting consistent paint production from him the remainder of the season would be big for Barnes’ Volunteers.
3-point Struggles: It’s no secret the Vols are a guard oriented team that must knock down 3s to have sustained success. Armani Moore hit a big one late to cut the Tech lead to two points but Tennessee struggled mightily from beyond the arc – they were just 4-14, 28.6%, for the night. The Vols won’t win many games shooting the ball like that.
Robert Hubbs, Armani Moore in Double Figures: After scoring 18 points in the opener, Hubbs turned in 13 points on 6/16 shooting. Though it wasn’t a particularly efficient night for Hubbs, he provided some needed scoring even though he couldn’t get going from deep (0-2 from 3). He has now scored in double digits in each of Tennessee’s games this season. For perspective, he only recorded double digit scoring in back-to-back games twice last season. Armani Moore was an inefficient 5/20 from the field but scored 17 points and recorded six rebounds, four steals and four blocks.
Video: Tennessee’s final possession lacked urgency and ended in a miss from about 10 feet behind the arc.
#Vols fall 69-67 to GA Tech after Baulkman's long three misses. pic.twitter.com/euffN9fx22
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) November 17, 2015
Stats:
Finals Stats: #Vols #YellowJackets pic.twitter.com/jN7wyBa7Bl
— Troy Provost-Heron (@Troy_Provost) November 17, 2015
