Tennessee basketball: 5 vulnerabilities Vols need to address for a Final Four run

No.3 – Giving up big leads

Again, don’t freak out, we are just trying to find things a great team can improve on, and one is maintaining big leads. It hasn’t happened many times this year; however, when Tennessee runs into a team that can score the basketball, if they give up their lead, they may not get it back.

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It almost happened on Wednesday night against Vanderbilt. Tennessee came out hot. Grant Williams scored within eight seconds of the game followed by a Jordan Bone three-point jumper, and before you knew it, the score was 15-2 in favor of the Vols.

That lead didn’t last long as Vanderbilt clawed back and played it as a one-possession game basically the rest of the way. If you’re reading this you know, Tennessee ended up winning the game, but if it wasn’t for three turnovers in Vanderbilt’s last four possessions, they could have easily lost. And, what a shame that would have been since they led by 13 points five minutes into the game.

It also happened against Alabama. Tennessee took at 12-point lead into the locker room. However, that didn’t last minutes into the second half as John Petty and Alabama went on a 13-0 run and could have easily won the game.

Again, the Vols are 17-1, so there isn’t much to complain about. However, I’m sure Vol fans would love to see Tennessee maintain a lead when they are up by double digits.