Three Quick Takeaways: Tennessee Overcomes Bad First Half To Defeat Missouri

Tennessee basketball played about as poorly as they have all season through the first 25 minutes against Missouri. But the Vols overcame the poor play by coming alive midway through the second half to earn a 72-67 victory.

The Vols used an extended 22-5 run in the second half to overcome their deficit and take complete control of the game as Tennessee’s frontcourt as well as Dalton Knecht came alive on the offensive end.

Here’s three quick takeaways.

Tennessee Comes Out Extremely Slow

Tennessee’s offensive struggles became clear very early as the Vols started extremely slow on the offensive end. In fact, Tennessee didn’t even score until 4:29 into the game and even that basket was a wide open transition layup off of a bad Missouri turnover.

The good news for Tennessee was that layup gave them a 2-1 lead as Missouri started just as poorly on the offensive end of the court.

But Missouri found a way to get some offensive production going— thanks in large part due to make three of its final seven three-point attempts in the first half.

But the Vols never got anything going on the offensive end of the court. They missed all eight of their first half three-point attempts and their leading scorers in SEC play, Dalton Knecht and Zakai Zeigler, scored just six first half points on a combined one-of-11 shooting from the field.

Despite a horrific first half, Tennessee trailed by only three points at halftime. But the Vols went into a road venue in front of a sleepy crowd and failed to create their own energy. It set the tone for the first half.

Tennessee’s Frontcourt Provides On The Offensive End

Jonas Aidoo is capable of having big games and he’s done it somewhat frequently this season. But the Vols rarely turn to their frontcourt to create the majority of their offensive production.

But that’s exactly what they had to do at Missouri as their backcourt struggled and Tennessee couldn’t get perimeter jumpers to fall. The Vols finally got a couple of deep balls to go in the second half but still finished the game a putrid five-of-17 from three-point range.

Aidoo was good on the offensive end and so was sophomore big man Tobe Awaka. The two combined for 32 of Tennessee’s 72 points and they did it with efficient shooting.

Aidoo totaled 14 points on an efficient six-of-nine shooting from the field while Awaka totaled 18 points— nine more points than his previous high in SEC play this season. Like Aidoo, the sophomore big man was efficient scoring the basketball and made six-of-eight shots from the field.

Rick Barnes and his staff leaned into the move too. They went to the two-big lineup with both Awaka and Aidoo in the game with 15:15 remaining in the contest and ran it almost exclusively the rest of the way. The move paid major dividends.

A Dalton Knecht Second Half Eruption

Dalton Knecht was dreadful for the first 27 minutes against Missouri. He missed his first eight shots, had a number of bad turnovers and was in the absolute opposite rhythm.

Then he hit a contest midrange jumper in the corner. That one make was enough to get Knecht in a rhythm. He hit his first triple of the game a possession later. A contested layup with just over 10 minutes to go gave Tennessee its first lead of the second half. He hit another triple a possession later.

After missing his first eight shots, Knecht hit six of his next eight shots to end the game. While Aidoo and Awaka were great, Knecht was the guy that stepped on the gas and helped Tennessee pull away from the Tigers.

He finished the game with 17 points and 15 of them came in the second half. Knecht’s ability to catch fire, particularly in a game he was badly struggling, was remarkably impressive. It’s one of the major things that changes the dynamic about this Tennessee team.

It’s also why the Vols were able to score 72 points in a game they were terrible offensively for over half the game.

Final Stats

Up Next

Tennessee basketball returns to Knoxville on Saturday night where they’ll face Texas A&M at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.