STARKVILLE, Miss — Consistency is the name of the game for Tennessee basketball.
The Vols have a lot of good players but a number of them have struggled with offensive consistency in their careers. In Wednesday night’s 77-72 loss at Mississippi State, super seniors Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi struggled miserably on the offensive end of the court.
Vescovi totaled two points on one-of-four shooting from the field while James totaled three points on one-of-eight shooting from the field. Two super senior leaders combining for just five points on two field goals makes winning on the road in the SEC, especially against a top 10 defensive team, extremely difficult.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said as much postgame.
“It’s hard. I mean, it’s really hard. I mean, it’s really hard,” Barnes said of winning with those performances. “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.”
Barnes does make a good point. James and Vescovi both did a number of things well on a night that they couldn’t score. James grabbed six rebounds and recorded two steals while Vescovi dished out four assists and totaled three steals. Both were stout on the defensive end.
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Vescovi did record one turnover and it was a costly one, forcing an entry pass to Tobe Awaka inside, in the game’s final two minutes. But the point still stands. Both did good things on a night when they couldn’t score.
However, if James or Vescovi could have given the Vols anything from a scoring standpoint, Tennessee would have earned a 15-point comeback win.
That’s the frustrating part for Tennessee. Point guard Zakai Zeigler and shooting guard Dalton Knecht were fantastic, totaling 54 points on 58% shooting from the field and 44% shooting from three-point range. Zeigler continued his stretch of brilliant play while Knecht came alive with a 26-point second half.
There’s no shame in losing to a good Mississippi State team on the road. But losing a narrow game with your two veteran leaders coming for five points is disappointing and a missed opportunity. Finding offensive consistency remains one of the biggest questions for this Tennessee team.
