Tennessee basketball report card: Grading the Vols in 78-66 Cincinnati loss

Starting Forwards

John Fulkerson: C

With 14 points on six-of-eight shooting and four steals, John Fulkerson actually did some serious work. He could get an A for his offensive performance, as he delivered in huge ways all game for Tennessee basketball on that front.

However, Fulkerson was horrible defensively like everybody else. He got worked down low, allowing Chris Vogt to score 11 points. Meanwhile, as the big man, he only had two rebounds. Now, at 6’9″, Fulkerson was a bit too undersized for this game. But he could have denied the paint better than he did, and that ended up being the difference.

Yves Pons: D+

Speaking of denying the paint, Yves Pons was even worse than Fulkerson. As the wing player, we consider him a forward even if he’s listed as a guard. And Pons too often let Cincinnati get into the paint, which is why they scored 78 points. It’s not like they were red-hot from outside.

Anyway, Pons’s defense almost warranted a failing grade, as that’s his speciality. His counterpart, Trey Scott, led Cincy in scoring with 15 points. Pons also had four fouls in the game. On offense, he also struggled shooting the ball. But we upped his grade from an F to a D+ because, like the others, he still found ways to be effective, and that’s why he was able to score 11 points.

Overall frontcourt grade: C-

They got outrebounded and struggled severely to deny the paint on defense. But the starting forwards did manage to be effective offensively, which is why we were willing to give them a C- just like the starting guards.