Vanderbilt has a couple of bigs that are going to wear us out. They also have coaches that know half court offense defense.
Same offense, Walter hurt and playing, great analytics, all the bigs are projects and are getting pushed around. The short bench in a tough long season, doesn’t work tournament time. Walter in the first half was just chucking continuous bad shots, not getting inside. Worst performance I have seen from him. The first half was ours to take, but chucking, not getting inside, and no real offense scheme except chuck.
This teams upside is big, but they are not road warriors at this point . A lot of ball left to play. Need to channel UF's inner Dan Cross on the road.
We forgot what we did in Gainesville vs. UT. Their defense was shutting us down early in that game but then our bigs started sealing off theirs and our guards were getting to the hoop and finishing. We didn't do that at all today.
Yeah, let's hope it's not a bad sprain. Was it the same ankle that he aggravated late in the game? Unfortunately, getting on a plane right after that kinda injury is not the best remedy. I'm sure the docs are treating him rigorously though.
Hope we can turn it on come tournament time. Regular season is slipping away. Still some big opportunities to make statements though. Hopefully they can regroup.
We haven't even hit the halfway mark of the SEC season (5-3 with 10 to play). My biggest concern right now is Clayton and who steps up in the backcourt if he is to miss time.
Bad game, as I said. But let's not freak out. We're 18-3. We'd all take that before the season started in a heartbeat.
Iowa State got smoked at home against an unranked opponent. Even with their injuries, Tennessee is a top 10 team that was playing at home.
Never have liked these noon starts, especially on the road. The visitng team always seems a bit jet lagged. Nonetheless, the Gators were physically outmatched everywhere and very sloppy ball handling. Yes, UT gets a lot of credit for great defense but we need to be much more physical underneath and beating blocks and screens. Felt like we could never get any rhythm and that is a worry come tournament time. Hope the team realizes that high energy and aggression is needed every single game from here on.
We took 2 of our grandkids to see manatees today and then out to eat, so missed the game live. Just finished watching most of it, but turned it off with 8 minutes left in the game. With Tennessee down 2 starters, including their best player, and only 7 scholarships guys available, they outhustled, out-physicaled and basically embarrassed a Gator team that hit all the L's - Lackadaisical, Lethargic and Lazy = LOSS. From start to finish there was no energy, no passion and they just didn't seem to care as Tennessee just dominated them in every way imaginable. Even though it's just 1 game, it was a pathetic performance.
I have not read all of the comments, but a loss today by Tennessee would have put them on a major downward trajectory. We already have a horrendous loss to Missouri at home. WE CANNOT afford to allow Vanderbilt to come in and start us on the same downward spiral that we gifted wrapped Tennessee out of. Why will Golden not play Brown, Klavzar, and Mikic? Mikic is 6’11”? Certainly he could get in the way of some of the bigs who were beating our seemingly tired bigs today.
The key is in putting it behind us as one game that we wouldn’t have been upset at the beginning of the year as counting as lass. The focus is on Vandy by analyzing their losses and what teams did to exploiit their weaknesses.
Missouri is ranked #20. They just beat #14 Miss St AT Miss St by 27. We lost to them by 1. Definitely not horrendous. We are 18-3 and our 3 losses are to ranked teams, 2 on the road in 2 of the toughest venues in college basketball. We had a terrible 2nd half, but I'd say that none of our losses are bad. As for those 3, they would have looked more lost today than the players we had on the court. They're bench players for a reason. Tough loss today, but that's basketball. Learn from it and move on, bring unbelievable intensity at home again Vandy - and maybe make a few shots. We'll be fine. Step away from the ledge and enjoy a cold beer - or 6.
