The Vols wore all orange and Missouri wore all yellow for today’s basketball game, and that color combination was an eyesore for those who watched the game. And it was a fitting palette given the quality of play on the court.
Tennessee’s 75-64 loss to Missouri was yet another ugly game in a string of unappealing games the Vols have put up recently ever since defeating Kentucky 84-77 at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols never led after taking a 4-3 lead early in the game, and Missouri often led by 8-11 points throughout the game. The Vols cut the lead to 4 with less than a minute left, but poor free throw shooting doomed them.
The win ended a 9-game losing streak for Missouri and was only their second SEC win all season. The loss put the Vols back below .500 and sent them to 5-7 on the conference slate.
Here are the five biggest observations from the Vols’ ugly loss:
No Bench Help: Kevin Punter rebounded from his worst game of the season with points, and he had some help from the rest of the starting five. But Tennessee’s bench provided almost no help in any facet of the game.
A game after scoring a career-high 20 points, Robert Hubbs III scored just 2 points and was part of only 4 total bench points for the Vols in this game. Tennessee’s bench shot a combined 1-of-12 from the field, including 0-from-6 from three.
After stepping up for Punter against Auburn on Tuesday, both Hubbs and Detrick Mostella were no-shows in this game. Tennessee’s bench was just one reason the Vols fell short, however.
Free Throw Misses: Tennessee is the best free throw shooting team in the SEC this year. But you wouldn’t know it from watching them on Saturday.
The Vols made just 58% of their 24 free throws on the day, and they missed several front-ends of one-and-ones. Those misses led to empty possessions and were often met with Missouri buckets on the other end. For a team that made 74.5% of their free throws coming into this game, it was extremely uncharacteristic.
Failure to Capitalize on Turnovers: Missouri turned the ball over 17 times during the 40 minutes the two teams played, and the Vols had just 5 turnovers all game. Yet despite that huge edge for Tennessee, the Vols couldn’t capitalize.
Most of Missouri’s turnovers were of their own accord, as Tennessee only had 4 steals for the game. But the fact that the Vols had such a huge margin in the turnover battle and still came up short is a disturbing piece of information.
Couldn’t Stop the Big Man: Ryan Rosberg has been on fire lately for Missouri, and he continued that trend against the Vols. The 6-foot-10 Rosberg had his way in the paint against Tennessee and tied Kevin Punter for the most points in the game with 21. Kevin Puryear, who measures in at 6-foot-7, added another 17 points.
The Vols were outscored in the paint 30-18 and were out-rebounded 41-26. The Vols have been the smaller team almost all season, but they’ve usually found ways to be creative and score inside and rebound. Not against Missouri, however.
Road Woes Continue: The Vols are an impressive 11-2 at home this season, but their ability to win seems to disappear as soon as they leave Knoxville.
Tennessee fell to 1-11 away from Thompson-Boling Arena with the 75-64 loss to Missouri on Saturday, furthering their complete ineptitude on the road. The Vols’ lone road win came against Mississippi State back on January 16th, and despite Missouri being a worse team, the Vols couldn’t find a way to pull out the win in Columbia.
