Ever since Tennessee basketball lost Lamonte Turner in December, the Volunteers’ last-minute collapses in games have become a trend.
Rick Barnes had Admiral Schofield and Lamonte Turner speak to the Tennessee basketball team Tuesday night as they had to hold off the Vanderbilt Commodores. Unfortunately for the Vols, that didn’t fix the main thing that has plagued them without Turner.
In that matchup, UT had a 13-point lead with two and a half minutes left. They had a 10-point lead with 35 seconds left. But they somehow collapsed enough to have to hold on and just win by two at the end.
It was an ugly affair, and it is one that has plagued this team since Santiago Vescovi took over at point guard and Turner had his season-ending injury. Dating back to that switch, Tennessee basketball has seen a collapse like that in four of its seven losses. The Vols have seen similar collapses and had to hold on in two of their wins, including Tuesday against Vanderbilt.
Just days before, Barnes’ team lost a crucial game on the road against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Now, yes, there was a terrible charge called on John Fulkerson with a chance to win late. But the real story was the fact that they blew a 58-52 lead with under four minutes remaining. In fact, they went scoreless for two and a half minutes in that final portion of the game.
Once they did rebound to go up 60-59 and have the ball with a minute left, they still couldn’t hold on. Back to back turnovers combined with two defensive fouls gave S.C. a 63-60 lead with seven seconds left. It foreshadowed what could come Tuesday, but all the signs that this could happen before that Saturday were missed.
Remember, in Tennessee basketball’s 77-64 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats, the Vols had cut it to 66-61 with three minutes to go. But again, they were held scoreless for two minutes, and in that time, UK built a 71-61 lead to take control of the game.
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Rocky Top blew an early lead against the Texas A&M Aggies, but they still tied it up with a minute left. Then A&M hit a three-pointer, the Vols committed a turnover, and they fouled on the next possession, allowing them to hit two free throws and go up by five with 34 seconds left. In fact, the Aggies got another stop and drew a foul to go up by seven before winning 63-58.
What about their matchup at the Kansas Jayhawks? It’s true that Kansas had control of that game, but the Vols were only down by three with under two minutes to go. Then they failed to score on three straight possessions, committing a turnover on one of them, and that took away a chance for them to win there.
Even in their first meeting with the South Carolina Gamecocks, which they won 56-55, the Vols nearly collapsed at the end. They were up by four with a minute left and failed to score on two possessions, committing a turnover on one, giving S.C. with the ball down by one with a second left. They at least held on for that one.
The point is, however, that Tennessee basketball has not been finishing well all year. Replacing Turner with Vescovi naturally signified some growing pains, and this is part of it. But it has been a recurring them for them, and they’ve got to figure out a solution. With their brutal stretch run in SEC play beginning, they have to figure something out fast as well.