NCAAM: SEC Deepest Conference
Tennessee’s struggles on the road continued Saturday night as Rick Barnes’ return to Texas ended on a sour note as the Longhorns survived a late Tennessee push to win, 52-51.
Here’s three quick takeaways.
Texas Dominates Middle Of The Game
Tennessee was finding a rhythm late in the first half, using a 9-2 run to take a 25-22 lead into the final minute of the half.
Texas’ Devin Askew nailed a contested three to tie the game with 13 seconds left and after Kennedy Chandler went fast, Olivier Nkamhoua fouled Courtney Ramey on a half court shot as time expired.
Ramey made two of the three free throws to take the lead and the Longhorns’ continued the run into the second half.
Tennessee didn’t score before the first media timeout of the second half and Texas used its lockdown defense to go on an 8-0 run and take a 10-point lead.
The Longhorns completely stifled Tennessee’s offense as the Vols couldn’t get any open looks.
That’s what made the run so brutal for Tennessee. While the Vols couldn’t get open looks in the first half, they out rebounded Texas, shot more free throws than Texas and turned it over less. When the Vols couldn’t capitalize — including 5-of-11 at the free throw line — and Texas opened up the game, a comeback was extremely unlikely.
The Vols’ offensive issues extended far past the start of the second half. Tennessee made just one of its first 15 shots to open the second half and scored just five points in the first 10 minutes of the half.
Texas Shuts Down Vescovi
Tennessee shooting guard Santiago Vescovi has been the one Tennessee player that’s showed up every game this season. The Uruguay native scored in single digits just three times this season and scored 14 or more points in every single SEC game this season.
Texas locked him down on Saturday, holding him to three points on one-of-eight shooting from the field. There’s a reason I said Texas locked him down rather than Vescovi struggled. The two obviously go hand-and-hand but Texas didn’t allow the sharpshooter to any open looks from three or many good looks inside the arc.
Vescovi did other good things — adding five rebounds, four assists and three steals — while also bring elite energy on the defensive end.
This shows how important Vescovi’s growth has been to this Tennessee team. With the junior guard struggling, the Vols scored just 51 points and couldn’t get anything going.
For a team that’s been incredibly inconsistent on the offensive end, this game gave the Texas Tech loss a run for its money for the worst offensive performance of the season.
Ferocious Late Run Comes Up Short
Tennessee was dead in the water with five minutes left in the game, trailing by 16 points having scored just 10 points in the first 15 minutes of the half.
Then the Vols miraculously put together a 16-0 run to tie the game with 80 seconds to play.
Tennessee ran a full court trapping defense, but didn’t create many easy points off of turnovers. Texas was rattled by Tennessee’s ball pressure but it didn’t always lend itself to turnovers.
The Vols had to get their offense going in the half court and that’s what happened. Tennessee’s offense finally found life thanks to threes from Josiah Jordan James and Zakai Ziegler. Zeigler was nails down the stretch, scoring seven straight points for Tennessee at one point.
When Austin native, Victor Bailey Jr. got an offensive rebound and put back to tie the game with 1:23, it felt like Tennessee was destined to win.
The Vols would even get the ball back with the game tied but Vescovi missed an open triple and a ticky-tack hand check on James sent Texas’ Timmy Allen to the line with six seconds left.
Allen made one of two free throws and Barnes drew up a good set to get the defense moving. Tennessee got a wide open three for Josiah Jordan James, but the lefties attempt hit the front of the rim and back of the rim before falling off.
