Vol Hoops Notebook
It was a rough week for Tennessee’s men’s basketball team.
After an inspiring performance against Kansas last Saturday that led many to believe the Vols were improving enough to the point to where they could make the NCAA Tournament, they turned in back-to-back horrendous performances.
Tennessee (12-9, 4-4 SEC) was out-toughed in a 63-58 loss to Texas A&M on Tuesday night. An observer of the box score can look at one stat and one stat only as to why UT lost to Texas A&M on Tuesday night: The Aggies out-rebounded the Vols 46-21, and UT gave up 23 offensive rebounds. A&M scored 16 second chance points and had more offensive boards than the Vols had total rebounds.
Texas A&M (10-10, 4-4 SEC) had only been averaging 10.0 offensive rebounds per game this season, the fourth-fewest in the SEC. Overall, the Aggies were the third-worst rebounding team in the conference entering the game.
“It’s pretty simple, when you give up 23 offensive rebounds and you only get three yourself, I’m not sure you deserve to win the game, and that’s what I told our guys,” Rick Barnes said following the loss. “But the fact is, we guarded the way we needed to, we just didn’t rebound.
“It’s disappointing in a lot of different areas, but the fact is, at the end, when we needed to come up with some rebounds, we weren’t able to.”
The Vols turned it around in their next outing against Mississippi State in Starkville on Saturday — but only for a half.
In the first half of the 86-73 loss to the Bulldogs — Tennessee’s third-consecutive loss — UT led 36-28 at halftime. The Vols shot the ball well, rebounded well, played tough defense, took great shots, shared the basketball well, and didn’t turn the basketball over.
But in the second half, it was the complete opposite.
Mississippi State (14-7, 5-3 SEC) scored 58 points over the final 20 minutes, out-scoring the Vols by 19 points.
“The second half, they just dominated us inside,” Barnes said following the loss. “We didn’t have an answer for it, and that’s what’s frustrating. Got to give them credit for it.
“They did exactly what we told our team at halftime that they would do, because they had not shot the ball well in the first half. We knew they would come out and push it at us, try to get early post-ups, try to get it up on the glass and go rebound it. They did.”
Bright spots from the trip to Starkville
Though the loss was embarrassing, there were a couple of bright spots to take away from the trip to Mississippi.
Uros Plavsic started in the absence of Josiah-Jordan James and scored a career-high 16 points. Jalen Johnson scored a career-high 13 points, and Santiago Vescovi also chipped in 16 points.
Plavsic also had three rebounds and two assists as he was 6-for-12 shooting from the field. Johnson also had three rebounds as well as five assists. Vescovi tallied five assists, four rebounds, and a steal.
“Olivier (Nkamhoua) has had chances all year,” Barnes said on the decision to start Plavsic. “He’s had as much opportunity as anybody. Just seems he can’t quite understand yet what he needs to do consistently.
“Uros showed today, for a freshman that hadn’t played in a long time, he has a chance to be a really good player.”
Josiah-Jordan James’ health
Plavsic started for the first time in his career because fellow freshman Josiah-Jordan James was unavailable due to injury.
The freshman guard missed a significant chunk of preseason practice with a hip injury back in the fall. Against Kansas, James tweaked the same hip injury, and this time it may even be affecting his groin.
“He didn’t practice, obviously,” Barnes said following the loss to Mississippi State. “Coming up here, we didn’t think he would play.”
Barnes provided a different update on Monday during his weekly press conference.
“It’s day-to-day,” Barnes explained. “We didn’t do anything other than scrub the game (film) yesterday, did some things in the weight room, just to get their bodies back.
“I just saw (trainer) Chad (Newman) a little bit ago, and he said (James) would go out and do a little bit. We won’t do much obviously today. It’s just a day-to-day thing, see how he responds to it. He had really hoped to play the last game, just couldn’t do it. We’ll see how these couple days off help him.”
James is a big loss for Tennessee if he can’t play on Tuesday night against Alabama. Heading into the season, Lamonte Turner, Jordan Bowden and James were viewed as the three best players on Tennessee’s roster. Now, it appears as if against the Crimson Tide, Tennessee will have a struggling Bowden and will be without Turner and James.
“What we miss, obviously, he’s a guy that rebounds the ball well for us,” Barnes said of James. “Defensively, I mean, there’s a lot of things we miss with him not being out there. Certainly his physicality and how he can go help us rebound. That’s where we’ve been hurting lately.”
UPDATE: According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Josiah-Jordan James will not play for the Vols on Tuesday night when they take on Alabama.
Tennessee freshman Josiah Jordan-James (groin) will not play tonight against Alabama, per Rick Barnes.
Barnes: “Still undergoing treatment.”
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 4, 2020
Scouting Alabama
Tennessee and No. 15 Kentucky (16-5, 6-2 SEC) will renew their rivalry this coming Saturday in Thompson-Boling Arena. But first, the Vols will make a trip south to Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night to take on Alabama (12-9, 4-4 SEC).
The Crimson Tide are in their first season under former Buffalo head coach Nate Oats. His first-year squad has had an up-and-down season. Alabama recently upset Auburn but is coming off back-to-back losses to LSU and Arkansas.
Kira Lewis Jr. and John Petty lead the way for a team that prides itself on getting up-and-down the floor and letting it fly from the 3-point line. Lewis leads the team in scoring at 16.4 points per game, while Petty chips in 15.4 points. Lewis also leads the team in assists (4.7) and steals (1.8). Petty’s 7.2 rebounds not only lead the team, but ranks eighth in the SEC.
“(Nate Oats) has his system implemented where they are one of the fastest teams in the country,” Barnes said of Alabama on Monday. “Really, you look at their guard, they’re some of their leading rebounders. They get the ball and go with it. They all can turn it into, they have a number of guys that can make it a one-man fast break if they need to.
“They’re going to shoot 30-plus threes if you look at the shot chart on them. It’s either a three or trying to get the ball to the basket for those rim shots. But they really drive it hard. They know what they’re looking for. But they’re fast. On a bad day for them is probably making nine threes. They’re going to continue to shoot. They’re going to continue to come at you hard, come at you fast and quick. So, obviously transition defense is a major part of any game, but it’s a big part of this game.”
Alabama will be without one of its key contributors as junior forward Herb Jones suffered a fractured wrist against LSU last week. Jones entered Saturday ranked fourth on Alabama in scoring (9.9), second in rebounding (6.3), and second in assists (2.7).
Tip-off between the Vols and Crimson Tide on Tuesday night is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
Bracketology
Tennessee is currently not projected to make the NCAA Tournament according to bracketmatrix.com. The Vols could still make the Big Dance, but barring a magical run, it doesn’t feel likely.
I get the feeling that this past week, losing to Texas A&M and Mississippi State, put the nail in Tennessee’s coffin.
All-Star honors
Two signees have been selected for the Allen Iverson Roundball Classic.
Tennessee’s pair of five-star guard signees, Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson, were two of 27 high school prospects selected to play in the event. They’ll be the first Vol signees to participate in the event.
The game will be played on April 24th in Philadelphia at the 76ers Fieldhouse Arena. This year will mark the fourth year the event has taken place.
Springer will also play in the McDonald’s All-American Game this spring. Johnson was nominated for the game, but he was not named to the roster.
Baller Vols Mailbag
Now, let’s get to some fan questions about Tennessee’s men’s basketball team.
“Why?” — @Travis_Cabage
Because Tennessee is cursed. Kidding, of course. In all seriousness, it’s a transition year even though we all didn’t want to admit it prior to the season. At best, the Vols were going to sneak into the NCAA Tournament. But then Lamonte Turner got hurt, Plavsic wasn’t ruled eligible until January, Bowden hasn’t produced as a senior, and James hasn’t necessarily lived up to the hype. Now it appears Tennessee will be lucky to make the NIT.
“What is the final record looking like?” — @BigOrangePruitt
Not great, Bob. KenPom projects Tennessee to lose seven of it’s last 10 games, though it has UT beating Kentucky and Florida. I don’t think it’ll be that bad of an ending to the season, but it’s not going to be pretty. The remaining schedule is brutal. I see the Vols going 4-6 or so in those games; 5-5 at best. Tennessee is too inconsistent in too many areas right now.
“Since the men’s season seems to be over for any serious chances of making the tournament should we start to give Pember, Gaines and others more minutes?” — @LoganTaylorVFL
Absolutely, though this should have already been taking place. When Drew Pember enters the game, he makes things happen, as does Davonte Gaines. I haven’t understood why those two haven’t played more. Maybe it’s because of conditioning, but the two should receive more of an opportunity down the stretch. It’s not as if someone far more productive is standing in their way, though Jalen Johnson has improved quite a bit over the last couple of games.
“Do you see Vescovi becoming our pure shooting guard next year or do you think he will come of the bench and give minutes as the 1?”
“Do you see Uros having potential to give us valuable minutes this year where he’s more than a tall body in the paint?”
— @A_K_Adams
I believe Vescovi will be Tennessee’s starting point guard next season, allowing Keon Johnson, Jaden Springer, or Josiah-Jordan James to start opposite of him. Johnson, Springer and James are all better off the ball, and Vescovi playing next to them would create quite a bit of offense. Springer or James will also play point, but I think we’ll see a situation where Vescovi is the No. 1 point guard.
As for Uros Plavsic, I do think the freshman has the ability to play valuable minutes off of the bench. We just saw him do it against Mississippi State. He still has plenty to work on, as does any freshman, but his size and touch around the rim can prove valuable, especially against teams that are weak in the post. I do worry about his ability to get up-and-down the floor against high-octane teams, however.
“Will we make the NIT?” — @Shopeeee
Surely. Current NIT projections project Tennessee as a four-seed. (Yes, NIT Bracketology is a thing).
“Has JJJ performed below expectations?”— @VOLswoosh
Based off of his ranking coming out of high school: yes. Now, I think James has been very productive as a freshman. But because he was ranked a five-star and the No. 22 overall player according to 247Sports’ composite, James had one-and-done type expectations associated to his name, and he hasn’t been one-and-done good.
It also doesn’t help that most fans who watch basketball only look at what players do on the offensive end because it’s the easiest thing to do. James has been effective on offense, but not consistently.
Where he has been good, however, is on the defensive side of the ball. According to advanced analytics, James is statistically the Vols’ best perimeter defender, the second-best defender on the team, and the second-best perimeter defender in the SEC.
James is going to live up to the five-star hype. He has great ability and athleticism. It’s just going to take longer than some anticipated. It doesn’t help he’s dealt with injuries this season.
“How far is Yves Pons from being a legit NBA prospect?”— @AndrewD2001
Pons is already a legitimate NBA prospect. Based off his performance this season, he’s already begun to appear in multiple mock drafts as a second round pick. Pons is going to get drafted and just might have a decision to make at the end of the season. We all know about his defensive ability, but Pons’ progression on the offensive end of the floor is to thank for his draft stock sky-rocketing.
“Why do we always have to keep waiting for next year?” — @Reggie_i_am
It definitely feels that way with the way the season is unfolding, but I think that narrative applies more to football. This basketball season has been a transition year from the jump.
