Tennessee Basketball Loses 76-75 to Georgia: 5 Takeaways from Vols’ Loss
Tennessee basketball’s NCAA Tournament hopes took a hit Saturday as the Volunteers lost at home to the Georgia Bulldogs 76-75. Here are five takeaways.
Rick Barnes’s team blew another huge lead, and Tennessee basketball fell back on the bubble after losing by one point to the Georgia Bulldogs at Thompson-Boling Arena Saturday.
The Vols led 53-39 with under 15 minutes to go, but a Mark Fox technical ended up galvanizing the Dawgs, and their offense went on a huge run to end the game. Down four, the game ended with a Lamonte Turner three-pointer as time expired, which is why the Vols only lost by one.
However, there was an uncalled goaltending on a previous Tennessee three-point attempt, which was a huge reason they lost the game.
With the loss, Tennessee falls to 14-11 on the year and 6-6 in the SEC, while the Dawgs improve to 14-11 on the year and 5-7 in the SEC.
Since both teams are on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament and don’t play each other again, this is a huge loss for Tennessee basketball.
They now have a lot more work to do to squeak into the NCAA Tournament. Here are five takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s loss.
1. J.J. Frazier still owns the Vols.
That’s the second straight game Tennessee played Georgia, dating back to last year, in which they could not stop J.J. Frazier to save their lives. Last year, he had 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting along with eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals. In this game, he had 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting while adding six assists and four rebounds.
Frazier had two three-pointers and was 5-of-6 from the free throw line, and he also had two steals in the game. So he dominated the Vols’ guards in every single way, and that brings us to our next takeaway.
2. Tennessee basketball guards have got to score more.
This was a huge issue for the Vols in the game and it’s been a huge issue for them all year. Jordan Bowden and Jordan Bone both did a solid job running the point, and Lamonte Turner also did a good job coming off the bench. After all, they had assists and only five turnovers, so the overall management of the game was fine.
But they simply don’t have enough consistency and diversity in their games to be true scoring threats night in and night out that they need to be. On this night, their three-point shots weren’t falling, so they simply quit finding other ways to score. And that’s usually not a problem because of one guy, but issues with that one guy right now are why they need to do a better job of scoring. That one guy is our next takeaway.
3. Robert Hubbs III is clearly battling injuries.
Just two weeks ago, Robert Hubbs III looked like he had the deadliest midrange and post-up game in the country. He knew how to use his size to post up guys down low and fade away. But Rick Barnes reported last week that he’s been battling injuries.
And now, that’s starting to show. Hubbs has not been scoring as consistently under the basket, but with the other guards not doing enough to score, he’s the only one still showing aggression. The result was 10 points against Georgia, but it took 13 shots to get there. As a result, the Vols had to rely heavily on one other person to shoulder the load.
4. Grant Williams can be a primary scoring option.
This is the one bit of good news for the Vols in this game. Grant Williams went from being a consistent double-figure machine to the best game of his career against the Dawgs. With Robert Hubbs III not hitting his shots due to injuries and Tennessee simply having an off-night on three-pointers, Williams became a star.
He finished with 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting, defied all odds in going 10-of-14 from the free throw line, which he usually doesn’t do, and added three blocks. Williams is the hustle player and a great scorer under the basket for the Vols. He is a guy they can continuously go to down low, but he needs more help from other players.
5. Tennessee basketball still can’t deal with success.
So the Vols took a huge step beating Kentucky and then took a greater step maintaining that success by beating the Kansas State Wildcats and Auburn Tigers. However, against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and now the Georgia Bulldogs, they have shown that they don’t know how to deal with success within a game.
After beating the Ole Miss Rebels, Rick Barnes’s young Vols thought they had this game in control with a 14-point lead at home over an okay team. And that relaxing is why they blew their fifth game of the year with a 13-point lead or more, their fourth SEC game. The next and final step for these young Vols is learning how to stay competitive when they have a lead over an okay team. Relaxing again seriously hurt their NCAA Tournament chances down the stretch.