Tennessee basketball played one of its worst halves of the season on Wednesday night following behind Mississippi State 35-22 thanks to sloppy offensive basketball. But the Vols came storming back in the second half behind their full court press and elite showings from Zakai Zeigler and Dalton Knecht.
The Vols tied the game with 33 seconds to play before a Tolu Smith and-one and a failed possession allowed Mississippi State to hold on to a 77-72 win.
After the loss, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes discussed the poor first half, the inability to stop Mississippi State inside and much more. Here’s everything Banes.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways From Tennessee’s Narrow Loss At Mississippi State
On how frustrating it is for Tennessee to play poorly in the first half on the road again
“That’s the most disappointing thing, just so inconsistent. And you think you’re getting there and then you take a couple steps forward and took a step backwards again. But I do not in any way want to take anything away from Mississippi State. Coach (Chris) Jans had his guys ready to play. And early in the first half, we just had some shots, again, had good looks at it, didn’t make it. Then I thought we started taking some shots quick where our feet weren’t set. Just again, kind of hope shots is what I call them.
“Second half, we really fought hard to get back in and we all appreciate that effort, but you know, a big turnover at the end, a couple of them really. And then offensive rebound on the other end when we had a chance to really come down and maybe get a lead and put a little bit more pressure on them. Our full-court pressure was good.
“Obviously Zakai (Zeigler) and Dalton (Knecht) got it going. And Zakai continues to just do an incredible job with what we needed him to do. But overall, we got to have more team consistency.
“Tolu Smith had his way with our post guys, got his position where he wanted it, and just, he did what he wanted to do. And again, we didn’t make enough winning plays at the end and, they deserve all the credit for this win.”
On if he was surprised by Tennessee forwards Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka being unable to defend Mississippi State center Tolu Smith
“Absolutely. I would’ve thought that both of those guys, I mean, we know he is certainly an outstanding offensive player. But he just took it where he wanted to go, which, you know, those guys can’t allow him to do that. And again, fouls, he put fouls on us. But they did a good job getting to the foul line. But still, with the arm bar and the rules today, nobody should be backed down the way he backed us down. It shouldn’t happen. Second half, end of the first half, we started having to come off and go down and try to help him and fire down there to help him.
And they kicked out. But the kick-outs really didn’t really hurt us that much. It’s just that he did a great job and facing the basket. I think he either scored or got fouled almost every time he faced the basket because we just gave up our defensive position.”
On how much of a concern it is that Tennessee’s forwards have struggled defending other productive forwards this season
“Yeah, it’s frustrating. Because we think our guys can do it. And, again, we love them to help us score and do that, but we’ve got to be able to guard other people’s post players. We’ve got to do that. And I know we’re more than capable of doing it, but we’ve got to prove we can do it.”
On what needs to change for that to happen
“Understanding that you’re allowed to arm bar, for one. And I think if you’re allowed to arm bar, nobody should be able to back you down. And I really believe that. But it is leverage. It’s getting down low and holding your ground. And if you do that, we can come and help, we can do that. But when a guy gets it deep in the lane now, it’s a long way to come down and it’s a longer way to get back out. Puts us into a really tough rotation where it really becomes a three-man rotation. But again, it’s all about space. Fighting for your space on the floor, getting the ball where you want it.”
On if he expected the physicality in this game
“Oh yeah. No doubt. We expect that. But that’s fine. It’s not that. I mean, again, we got guys and we’re going to keep shooting the ball. We got to do that, but tonight defensively— we fouled a three-point shooter early in the game. Can’t do that. We’ve talked so much about that. Second half those, well, they had to out rebound us by nine in the second half because I think we were up nine at halftime on the glass and those plays hurt. But we did a great job getting ourselves back in it where it just became a regular game you would expect and in terms of how much time and where the score was. But we didn’t make enough winning plays coming down the end.”
On the challenge of winning on the road with Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James struggling
“It’s hard. I mean, it’s really hard. I mean, it’s really hard. We expect so much out of those guys and defensively, they do a really good job, but they’ve been in a lot of big games and we believe in them with our whole heart. But it’s consistency. We got to know what we’re going to get, not just from those two guys, but from everybody on our team.”
On what woke up Dalton Knecht in the second half
“Well, I think he got some looks and I think he, again, I told you guys weeks ago, the more we play, the more he understands what’s going on. He’s going to get a feel for it. And I thought he adjusted well. I think that Z(akai) helped him do some things too. But once he got going, we’ve seen him do that. And I thought he got a little anxious. Like I said, he took one that was not a great look at it. I mean, it is a great look, but I didn’t think he was set the way he needed to be. And then when you turn down a ball screen like he did going to his left and you raise up, you really are setting yourself up for a rear view contest with a guy that’s as big as you. And that was a big play— that block. But I thought he should have kept going there. But he’s going to just keep getting better every game. I do know this. He’s trying to make more of an effort to guard consistently longer periods of time. If he’ll do that he can build on this.”
On if these first half woes were more physical than mental like at North Carolina
“How many points did they score in the first half? (35). They should have had 32 because you can’t foul three-point shooters. And that’s pretty much where with the pace that we play, you somewhat expect that game to be right there. And, again, we had some great looks at the start (that) didn’t go in, which we saw that happen the other night. We bounced back like in the second half, but in the second half you just can’t turn the ball over the way we did. We took a couple ill-advised shots where I know we could’ve gotten better. And then on the other end you can’t give up offensive rebounds. I mean, when you’re playing from behind, you can only give them one look at it. And again, from a defensive standpoint, we allow their two best players to have great nights and it really makes it hard to win on the road when their two best players or two leading scores can do what they did tonight.”
On if Knecht needed a game like this against a physical defense to see what he’s capable of
“Well, I think what’s helped him more than anything is Shack (Mashack) has made a really conscious effort in practice to get after him. And I think that’s helped him a lot. But obviously when you come out here, when the light’s are on and you can do it, I think it’s gotta add to your confidence.”
On why freshman guard Josh Hubbard was able to score 25 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three
“Well one, he’s a good player and he can raise up. He’s got a nice jump shot and we were trying to double team him some to get it out of his hands and he does a really good job. And we did okay with that, but again, guys get going, making shots — like Dalton, he got going with it, but, again, it goes back, you can’t let him have the points at the rim like we did tonight. They’re gonna make some shots and he’s a good enough player obviously to do that, but you just can’t let him have their way at the rim. What Tolo did, he really controlled the whole (game) — set the tone for the whole game.”
On why they went to the full-court press and what made it so effective
“Well, you know, we pretty much had to. We went up there and we felt like, you know, we got ’em back on their heels a little bit and it was good for us, it really was. But then we had a couple fouls that you cannot have to let ’em go down and make some free throws that way. It was effective. It got us back in the game and, but we had a lot of guys that second half that played a lot of minutes. And again, we’re proud of that fight. They came back into it and shows you what we’re capable of, but we just, again, dug ourselves a hole. But they had a lot to do with it. I don’t want to say one word here that takes away from what Coach (Chris) Jans did with his team and good for them and great win and for them and tough one for us.”
