1. Jackson Avenue scorched the Anthem. The Streak lives. 2. I'm in Cuonzo Martin's camp, but I'm not a lemming. The rotation for the first 30 minutes was utter nonsense. 3. Skylar McBee was utterly wretched defensively. He gave up three baskets before a good portion of the crowd had settled in their seats. 4. Jarnell Stokes played with the level of effort he needs to bring every night. His absence in the last portion of the first half was critical. 5. On a night when there was a rash of momentum swings in the final 8 minutes, Geron Johnson's two threes were the biggest. They kept Tennessee from every getting even. 6. Josh Richardson is a magnificent, versatile defender. The problem tonight was that he couldn't guard Adonis Thomas and Joe Jackson simultaneously. 7. Tennessee can't win with that effort from Trae Golden. Not sure if his shoulder is a problem, but Martin was right to bench him in favor of Lopez late. 8. You just can't win the battle on the glass like that and lose. That's a huge opportunity missed. 9. Allowing a team to approach 60 percent shooting on your floor is totally unacceptable. Tennessee got the fate their overall defensive effort warranted. 10. Tennessee kicked away any margin of error they had tonight. It's 12-6 in the SEC or another March of NIT home games.
Skylar McBee played his worst game in a Tennessee shirt. I have no idea why he stayed in the game so long. I know Cuonzo let's kids shoot out of their slumps, but he was absolutely unable to keep up on D, and that's supposed to be a no-no. To be fair to our D, Memphis made some great contested shots, but we let them drive far too much, and those irate few threes were open. That'll lose you games. Also, did Stokes' first two fouls look good to you? The second especially looked like an awful call from the nosebleeds.
I thought the first one was an atrocious call. The second was questionable, but I knew it was getting called.
I didn't get to watch the game but the daft both teams got to the 80s tells me that the tempo was in our favor. I'm gonna watch it tonight.
McBee and Golden have been wretched since the Wichita State game. Golden has to play through since he is the only one who can be counted on to get the ball over the time line, but if McBee is shooting this poorly, no need for him to see the floor.
Cheap turnovers were killer tonight. Memphis had a number of fast break points off of simple inability to control the ball or pass. I also thought we did better when we ran or played more up tempo. I know Martin comes from the Big Ten/Gene Keady environment where toughness reigns as does half court offense, but it's not playing well for us.
what needs to happen next is what matters, I personally don't wanna see stokes or 3 starting the next game.
Stokes played well tonight. Really thought they should have put him back in when the game started to get away from them in the first half as they did with Golden against Vandy last year.
I'll bring one positive to this thread. On January 5, 2012, who would have predicted that Josh Richardson would be one of the key contributors to this team? He clanked a dunk and had a huge turnover late, but he's turning into a future all SEC selection. I can't wait to see him continue to grow over these next couple of years.
I wanna see stokes sit the first five minutes .....start McRae ...try something ...let stokes be the fire off the bench for once,and at least tonight mcblreez didn't throw up a dozen misses, he has some moves near the paint ! Why the f isn't he taking the shot? Twice tonight he had his right shoulder above a defender and fuss what ,pass.....
Just thinking. Yemi's missed bunny and Josh's missed dunk. 4 points left lying out there....makes me ill.