The Vols rolled to an 81-62 win over Florida Atlantic on Wednesday night in front of an announced crowd of 12.309 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Here’s the box score:
Final stats from UT’s 81-62 win over Florida Atlantic: pic.twitter.com/jzDHdsU5eo
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) December 17, 2015
And five observations from the win for the Vols (5-4):
1. Late run secures the victory: Florida Atlantic cut Tennessee’s lead down to five points at the 9:46 mark of the second half after the Vols led for double-digits for much of the game. The Vols, after a stagnant period, picked it up and put together an 18-2 run leading up to the 5:00 mark and put the game completely out of reach for the overmatched Owls. “I just thought we were watching dummy offense as opposed to playing it,” Barnes said of what slowed UT down before that late run. “I don’t want guys to run offense, I want them to play it…but it gets back to just moving the ball. We got the transition game going, and I told [Kevin Punter], we’ve got to attack the elbow, but Kyle (Alexander) had a lot to do with that.”
2. Woodson adding to the rotation: Barnes made a surprising move early in the second half – going with walk-on guard Brad Woodson while the game was still competitive. Woodson did some good things – recording a rebound and a an assist in those four unexpected minutes of game time. He also checked in late in the game with it out of reach, along with fellow walk-on Lucas Campbell.. Barnes said he’d told Woodson in the past that he planned to play him and wanted to make good on his promise – and he plans to use Woodson, a freshman from Murfreesboro, Tenn. – more as the season progresses. “We’re going to play everyone,” Barnes said.
3. Punter, Moore step up again: Tennessee needs big production from Armani Moore and Kevin Punter virtually every night, and they got just that on Wednesday. Punter led all scorers with 24 points and added five rebounds and five assists. Moore, who missed a stretch of the first half with some cramping, scored 16 points and added five boards as well. “(Kevin Punter) started scoring through that flurry were really because of him,” Barnes said. “He did just a great job of fighting for his space and really doing this job. I thought he really got very conscience of getting down into his stance on the defensive end.”
4. Too many turnovers: The Vols forced 15 turnovers, but equaled that amount with 15 giveaways in the game. That was the second-highest total of the year for the Vols, with only the 16-turnover night at Georgia Tech ranking higher. The Vols, in particular threw away a couple passes where there was some miscommunication between the passer and the cutter. “We were too casual,” Barnes said, in summary of the problems hanging onto the ball.
5. Barnes impressed with Kyle Alexander, Detrick Mostelaa: His stat line wasn’t massive, but Rick Barnes pointed out the effort of freshman forward Kyle Alexander, who scored six points and collected five rebounds in a season-high 22 minutes, and sophomore guard Detrick Mostella (6 points, 4 rebounds in 13 minutes) as two of the players who he saw improvement from. “I thought Kyle (Alexander) maybe for the first time fought through fatigue,” Barnes said. “Detrick (Mostella) is trying harder than he has really ever tried. He came into the game and really tried to play on the defensive end. Those two guys (Alexander and Mostella) are really a great example of two guys who carried over some of the things what we have talked about and hopefully we can continue to learn.” Barnes went on to rave about Alexander’s potential – saying he could end up being one of the best running post players he’s ever coached.
