Tennessee basketball’s undefeated record at home came to an end on Tuesday night as South Carolina shocked the fifth-ranked Vols 63-59.
Tennessee’s offense was dreadful while South Carolina made just enough perimeter jumpers to pull off the upset.
Here’s three quick takeaways on the loss.
Another Bad First Half For Tennessee
In what was largely a repeat of Tennessee’s matchup just three days prior at Vanderbilt, the Vols turned in a very poor first half.
The game’s opening possession saw Zakai Zeigler set Jonas Aidoo up with a wide open layup off the pick and roll only for Aidoo to miss the bunny. It was a fitting sign of what was to come over the game’s first 20 minutes.
Everything seemed very discombobulated for Tennessee in the first half. Offensively, the Vols made just 2-of-11 three-pointers and Aidoo’s opening possession blunder was just the first of many missed shots at the basket. The Vols shot six-of-13 at the rim in the first half and a handful were wide open.
On the defensive end, Tennessee didn’t play badly overall. But the Vols were late on a number of switches and just seemed disconnected with some of their rotations. That led to an inordinate number of wide open three-pointers for South Carolina.
Much in the same way, the Gamecocks six offensive rebounds weren’t crazy given they’re a strong offensive rebounding team but a couple of the offensive rebounds occurred because of Tennessee gaffes.
The only thing that went well for Tennessee in the first half was Dalton Knecht, who scored 13 points on six-of-13 shooting from the field.
All in all, Tennessee was fortunate to enter the halftime break only down 30-26 due to the sloppy play on both ends of the court.
Tennessee’s Offense Returns To 2022-23 Form
Tennessee’s offensive struggles continued into the second half as the Vols’ 59 points was its least of the season.
Through six SEC games, the Vols’ offense had been a driven by Knecht, Aidoo and Zakai Zeigler. Both Zeigler and Aidoo struggled on that end of the floor.
Aidoo finished the night with six points on two-of-eight shooting from the field while Zeigler totaled two points on zero-of-six and just three assists to two turnovers.
Knecht’s 31 points marked a game-high and 13 of the points came in a final three-minute unbelievably ferocious stretch. He ended the night 11-of-24 from the field.
Santiago Vescovi also had a strong offensive performance. The super senior made two of Tennessee’s five three-pointers for the game. The southpaw also did some good things to set up his teammates for open looks while scoring 10 points on the night
But besides Knecht and Vescovi, Tennessee’s offense was pretty dreadful. The next highest scoring total was Aidoo and Awaka’s six points.
Perimeter Shooting The Difference
South Carolina’s offense wasn’t too much better than Tennessee’s as the two teams turned in an ugly display of offense.
The Gamecocks shot 34% from the field while the Vols shot 36% from the field. South Carolina even turned it over four more times than Tennessee.
But the big difference came from behind the arch where Tennessee made just five-of-21 attempts. South Carolina was far from great from three-point range making just 10-of-29 attempts. But those 15 points was the difference in the game— along with some free throw shooting disparity.
The biggest three-pointer came with 39 seconds remaining. Tennessee was making a late push and only trailed by three points. Then Ta’Lon Cooper drilled a corner three that proved to be the daffer.
And while some of it can be chalked up to simple shooting disparity, South Carolina consistently had better looks from three-point range than Tennessee did.
The perimeter defense issues that plagued Tennessee in the first half carried over to the second half as they gave up more open looks from the perimeter than they have in a long time.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee basketball heads to Rupp Arena on Saturday night where they’ll face No. 10 Kentucky in a rivalry showdown. Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. ET and ESPN will broadcast the game.
One Response
Having watched my beloved Vols all season I still am confused what the offensive scheme is. Having coached at the amateur level for many years its seems to me they should be running a 1 2 2 on offense where either z penetrates and dishes,or they run pick and rolls with post, or a point forward offense getting the ball in DK’s hands on the wing to shoot, penetrate or feed Aidoo. Standard Triple threat. Not sure what is wrong with JJJ. I’d have him attacking the elbow since his 3 point shot has no confidence.
The help D always switching has been exploited by offensive rotating the ball for the open look. Vesco’s game is all about his shot, so find that open look in rotation. Not sure why we seem to double as a standard on D. The steals vs. Open look ratio does not seem in our favor. I would not have my post 30 feet from the basket trying to check a guard. I wish RB WOULD USE THE FULL COURT press more to change momentum. Or switch to a zone D, change it up, confuse the offense for some possessions and steal some points. A 3 2 zone would be more effective against some offenses than the help switch D that has us playing behind in the rotation. The film says it all. And lastly, why is it year after year our teams go into a offensive deep freeze? When your 3 for 17 for 3, it’s time to adjust, the ball ain’t dropping tonight. Thanks for the therapy.