STARKVILLE, Miss — Despite an abysmal first half where Tennessee nearly totaled more turnovers (10) than made baskets (nine) the Vols only trailed Mississippi State by three points with just over 13 minutes remaining.
But as the Vols failed to get over the hump in a 77-72 loss at Humphrey Coliseum, their most glaring shortcoming showed up again— post defense.
Preseason All-SEC forward Tolu Smith had his “welcome back” moment after missing the first 12 games of the season going for 23 points on seven-of-10 field goal shooting and nine-of-12 free throw shooting.
“Tolu Smith had his way with our post guys,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said postgame. “(He) Got his position where he wanted it, and just, he did what he wanted to do.”
Smith scored Mississippi State’s first basket of the night, drop stepping and putting his right shoulder right into Jonas Aidoo’s chest and finishing with a left-handed layup. It was a sign of what was to come all night.
Aidoo couldn’t handle Smith down low, fouling out in just 20 minutes as Smith got wherever he wanted to get on the court against the junior big man.
Tobe Awaka had more success defending Smith but couldn’t do it without fouling. The sophomore picked up his fifth and final foul with 14 seconds remaining in the game, totaling 20 minutes just like Aidoo.
“He is certainly an outstanding offensive player,” Barnes said of Smith. “But he just took it where he wanted to go, which 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 with the arm bar and the rules today, nobody should be backed down the way he backed us down. It shouldn’t happen.”
Smith came through for Mississippi State over-and-over again in the final 13 minutes after Tennessee pulled within three points. He hit two free throws and scored another bucket to push the lead from three to five twice with 10-plus minutes remaining.
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When Dalton Knecht tied the game with 4:30 left, Smith got to the line and knocked down one free throw to reclaim the lead.
Then finally after Tennessee tied the game with 34 seconds left, Smith got three the old-fashioned way with the game’s deciding basket. In a game where Tennessee had a number of issues, the Vols’ inability to stop Smith outweighed Mississippi State’s countless careless second half turnovers.
The loss knocks Tennessee to 11-4 (1-1 SEC) and there’s one common theme in the Vols’ four losses— they came against an elite big man.
Purdue’s Zach Edey scored 23, Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson scored 17, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot scored 22 and now Mississippi State’s Tolu Smith scored 23.
Those are all elite big men. Aidoo has the length to protect the rim against driving guards but his thin frame leaves him vulnerable to physical and talented big men. The vulnerable post defense is perhaps becoming Tennessee’s biggest weakness.
“It’s frustrating. Because we think our guys can do it,” Barnes said. “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.”
Don’t get it twisted, those four big men are truly elite. Auburn’s Johnni Brohme is the only big man Tennessee will see the rest of the regular season that’s on their level and no one else is even close.
But when the NCAA Tournament rolls around, Tennessee will be hoping to not see elite big men in its region. It’s average post defense has been a major part of all four losses this season. They hope it’s not the cause of their last loss of the season.
