It was maybe rival Kentucky coming to town. Or maybe it was clinching the SEC Regular Season Championship earlier this week. Honoring three senior starters less than 20 minutes before tipoff seems most likely.
But whatever it was, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes believes that his team came out too emotional in its 85-81 loss against Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.
“I told the guys after the game, I thought we were way too emotional at the start of the game,” Barnes said postgame. “Didn’t execute. Very impatient offensively. Taking shots when we could have gotten more quality shots. And that feeds into them and let them get a little separation, they get comfortable, they can start getting out and going with it.”
The Vols came out extremely slow offensively, missing their first five shots and not scoring until just under three minutes into the game.
Kentucky, who is prone to slow starts themselves thanks to starting two of its best players on the bench, didn’t jump on Tennessee out of the gates. The Wildcats lead was only 4-3 at the first media timeout and Tennessee led for just over three minutes in the first half.
But even in an underwhelming first half by Kentucky’s explosive offense’s standards, the Wildcats eventually hit shots. Three triples in four possessions midway through the first half gave Kentucky a lead it never relinquished.
“I give Kentucky a lot of credit, but we definitely weren’t locked in the way we were supposed to be for the first 20 minutes,” Josiah-Jordan James said.
Tennessee cut Kentucky’s lead, which grew to as much as 11 points in the first half, to four points thanks to a late first half Dalton Knecht spurt.
The Vols’ offense woke up in the second half and Zakai Zeigler, Josiah-Jordan James and Jonas Aidoo helped Dalton Knecht out. But Kentucky’s dominant offensive exploded as well.
More From RTI: Everything Rick Barnes Said After Tennessee’s Loss Against Kentucky
Kentucky made nine-of-14 (64%) second half three-pointers and had an answer for every Tennessee run. While the Vols still had chances to win in the second half, inability to have a halftime lead against a dominant offensive team scored just 33 points in 20 minutes is where they lost the game.
“Way too emotional to start the game,” Barnes said. “And I said, you don’t want to end it on that emotion. You just got to do what we’ve done, believe in what we’ve done. Am I surprised? Not really. I mean we’ve had a brutal three weeks here and, again, I mean I compliment these guys, but what they did not a lot of teams can do.”
It’s important to note that this is far from Tennessee’s first bad start of the season. They were slow showing up in losses against North Carolina, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Fierce comebacks also came up short against the Tar Heels and Bulldogs.
It’s not the first time this issue has cost Tennessee this season but the Senior Day aspect does make sense. The Vols honored three key players in an emotional ceremony right before the game and James teared up. After the game, Barnes mentioned wanting to change the format.
“You’re always concerned on Senior Night because you’ve got more people around. You got your families in and all seniors want to win,” Barnes said. “You don’t make excuses about it because it is what it is. Every team goes through it. But if you ask me personally, I’d probably do Senior Night differently.”
“It was really really tough,” James said. “I can’t remember the last time I cried. I really couldn’t contain myself. Thinking about all I’ve been through, this group has been through and how proud I am of everybody that’s worked in this organization. I think the biggest thing is focusing on the bigger picture and the task at hand which is tough and was really tough today.”
The slow and emotional start cost Tennessee against Kentucky. What caused it doesn’t matter at this point. It spoiled the Vols’ Senior Day but so did Kentucky playing a stellar game. The key for the Vols is not letting it spoil anything going forward in the postseason.
One Response
I can’t be that forgiving of Kentucky’s behavior. TN, being coached by Coach Barnes is very ‘well behaved’ young men; he instills that in his players and very seldom are opponents physically abused. Their finesse in being trained to play basketball is outstanding. On the other hand, KY is always wired to roughness, rebuttal by mouth, etc. and that’s understood with Calpari as a Coach! He should have had 3 technical fouls tonight for his ‘Bobby Knight’ behavior…..