Will Warren: Tennessee Basketball Work in Progress
By Will
So the Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Mississippi Rebels/Black Bears on Wednesday night by thirteen points. What does this mean for Tennessee moving forward and what can we take away from this game? Let’s start:
Jeronne Maymon is a MAN. He’s not 40 (although the beard helps), but you could the feeling he could put up 20 points and 20 rebounds and get there anyway. Maymon kept Tennessee in it early and helped them put the game away in the second half, racking up 18 points and 11 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the year and his fourth in SEC play. With that, Maymon is easily your Player of the Game.
Those first six minutes… Yikes. That six-minute stretch to start the game showed almost every single flaw with this year’s team, seemingly. The Vols committed too many turnovers early on and found themselves in a 13-point hole way too quickly. While past Tennessee teams might have folded up and gone home for the night, these Vols powered through, fought their way to a one-point halftime deficit, and then took over in the second half. That’s what I like to see and that’s what all of us want to see: perseverance.
Dwight Miller: three-point artist? Yeah, I don’t get it either. I didn’t remember Miller ever attempting a three before Wednesday night’s game…and then he goes two for three from deep and gave a spark to Tennessee’s offense in the first half. Ten points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes is absolutely phenomenal and maybe we’ll see more of him on the court in future games.
Efficiency! Tennessee was very efficient on both ends of the court on Wednesday, putting up 1.10 points per possession and allowing 0.90. That’s how a good, solid victory looks. Plus, Tennessee heavily out-rebounded the Rebels and gave themselves several second-chance opportunities on offense. That’s a good sign.
What does this win mean? The important thing to me is that the Vols went up against a team somewhat taller than them (Mississippi’s average height is the eighth-highest in the country) and out-rebounded them easily. That’s a great thing to see, especially when they’ve had trouble with rebounding at times this year. The offensive efficiency was also a pleasant sight after the disastrous showing against Alabama.