In its second straight game without Jaden Springer, Tennessee basketball lost its second straight game. The Vols, ranked No. 6 in both polls, fell to the Missouri Tigers, a team ranked No. 19 in both polls and whom they beat 81-61 back on Jan. 5, at home 73-64 Saturday night after losing 75-49 at the Florida Gators Tuesday.
At Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., UT fell behind 23-10 early in the first half and, despite cutting it to two scores at halftime, could never fully catch up to former Vol head coach Cuonzo Martin’s team. Rick Barnes’ team cut it to 44-40 in the second half but allowed Mizzou to then go on a 9-2 run to take control of the game.
With the win, the Tigers moved to 10-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC. Tennessee basketball fell to 10-3 and 4-3 in the SEC. Up next for UT is a Tuesday home game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Mizzou will visit the Auburn Tigers that same night. Here are three things we learned from the Vols’ loss Saturday.
1. Only Yves Pons responded to inside game’s struggles.
On Tuesday, the Vols lost to Florida thanks in large part to them playing soft on the inside. After being called out on it, Yves Pons did his part to score 20 points and come away with five rebounds and two blocked shots. Unfortunately for UT, he was the only player to step his game up inside the paint for Rocky Top.
John Fulkerson, on the other hand, had a disastrous performance. He came away with just seven points in six rebounds but committed five turnovers. Olivier Nkamhoua, E.J. Anosike and Drew Pember combined for no points off the bench. Mizzou outrebounded the Vols 34-31. Simply put, this team did not step up in the paint.
2. Offensive fundamentals remained an issue.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of teams Barnes coaches to be good at shooting free throws and taking care of the ball. Tennessee basketball wasn’t good at either of those things when they took the court Saturday. The Vols committed 18 turnovers on the night with just 12 assists. Fulkerson had five, but Santiago Vescovi had four, and Josiah-Jordan James had three.
Meanwhile, this team was 13-of-21 from the free throw line. Vescovi was the major culprit on this front as well, missing all four free throw attempts. Davonte Gaines also missed both of his attempts off the bench.
3. Jaden Springer is clearly missed.
It’s no coincidence that the Vols are no 10-0 with Springer and 0-3 without Springer for more than a certain period of time. Springer got hurt and left the game five minutes in against the Alabama Crimson Tide, and UT lost that game. He has then missed these previous two games, and those are Rocky Top’s other two losses.
Now, Josiah-Jordan James and Victor Bailey Jr. each had 12 points for Tennessee basketball, so the guard play wasn’t awful, but Springer clearly brings something to the table. Of course, perimeter defense could have been better in general. Still, there’s an X-factor related to Springer that everybody is missing.