All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols 78-66 loss at Cincinnati

By Caleb Calhoun

CINCINNATI, OH - DECEMBER 18: Keith Williams #2 of the Cincinnati Bearcats tries to pass under the basket while defended by Yves Pons #35 of the Tennessee Volunteers in the first half of the game at Fifth Third Arena on December 18, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - DECEMBER 18: Keith Williams #2 of the Cincinnati Bearcats tries to pass under the basket while defended by Yves Pons #35 of the Tennessee Volunteers in the first half of the game at Fifth Third Arena on December 18, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

A two-game losing streak has hit Tennessee basketball. Here are three things we learned from the Volunteers’ loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Things did not get any better for Tennessee basketball following their loss to the Memphis Tigers. In fact, they got worse. The Vols suffered their second straight loss, falling to the Cincinnati Bearcats 78-66 on the road, their first game that was technically a road game all year.

With the loss, UT, ranked No. 21, fell to 7-3 on the season. Cincinnati, which has been struggling under first-year head coach John Brennan and was on a two-game losing streak, improved to 7-4 on the year.

Lamonte Turner, who has been banged up throughout the season so far, left the game for a bit due to injury but came back in, the second time this year he has done that. Here are three takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s loss.

1. Poor outside shooting continues to plague the Vols.

This time, no freshmen were here to help, as Josiah-Jordan James shot one-for-five from three and only had eight points and Davonte Gaines missed his only outside attempt. Meanwhile, Turner, still being banged up, only took one attempt and missed it. Jordan Bowden was one-for-five, and Yves Pons was one-for-three.

Overall, the team was three-of-15 from three, and that did them in. Now, they still did some solid little things on offense, getting transition buckets, making all 17 free throws and playing unselfishly. That’s why they got 66 points. But the outside shooting was so problematic that they couldn’t overcome it.

2. Defensive lapses joined the other issues.

More from All for Tennessee

Unlike the Memphis game, the Vols did enough little things on offense to actually overcome their poor outside shooting this time. That’s why, a we mentioned, Tennessee basketball was able to score 66 points, not 47, and four guys had double-figures. All of this should be enough for a Rick Barnes-coached team to win a game if they are still defending.

In this game, though, they didn’t defend well at all. Cincinnati shot over 56 percent from the field, had 17 assists and took advantage of numerous defensive lapses by the Vols. Six Bearcats scored in double-figures, and a seventh had nine points. They also got a technical for flopping at one point. So things were disastrous on that side, as they allowed 78 points, and that was inexcusable.

3. Lack of inside game is finally showing.

When it comes to little things like defense, free throws, rebounding and turnover, the Vols came up short in two of them in this game. They usually come through in all of them. But in addition to defense in this game, rebounding became an issue.

Next. Vol fans' 2019-2020 bowl game rooting guide. dark

John Fulkerson still scored 14 points, but UT’s lack of bodies over 6’9″ is showing. They only had 21 rebounds in the game, and one real story was Cincinnati having 11 offensive rebounds, which was part of the poor defensive showing. Simply put, it was a rough night for the bigs and the defense in general, and that helps explain the loss.

Home/Vols Basketball