Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols’ 57-52 loss to Texas Tech Red Raiders

Flying from Colorado to New York for a defensive slugfest proved too much for Tennessee basketball. The Vols, ranked No. 13 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll, dropped one in overtime to the Texas Tech Red Raiders Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden.

Josiah-Jordan James hit a three-pointer to tie the game up with 30 seconds left, but Santiago Vescovi missed a potentially game-winning three that was wide open. Texas Tech then scored on three straight possessions in overtime to build a 50-44 lead, and UTY could not overcome that.

With the win, Mark Adams’ Red Raidsers improve to 7-1 on the year and will host the Arkansas State Red Wolves next Tuesday. Rick Barnes’ Vols fall to 6-2 and return home for two games against the UNC Greensboro Eagles Saturday and the USC Upstate Spartans next Tuesday. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s loss.

1. Three-point shooting was atrocious.

It was just one of those nights. Outside of two three-pointers late in regulation, one by Santiago Vescovi and then the one by James, both of which tied it up, the Vols couldn’t buy a three. They were 6-of-39 on the night, and at one point, they were 3-of-32. Texas Tech’s interior defense forced them to keep trying from outside, but nothing would fall.

This resulted in them going 10 minutes in the second half without a field goal. It also creeped into other aspects of their shooting, including 8-of-16 from the free throw line and a wide open missed opportunity from Josiah-Jordan James here in transition. This highlight shows the kind of night the Vols had in New York.

2. Second-chance points were limited.

One of the things that made the three-point shooting so disastrous was Tennessee basketball didn’t get many second-chance opportunities. The Vols had 11 offensive rebounds, but four came with two minutes left in overtime when they were already down six and Texas Tech was playing not to foul.

To put this in context, UT averages 12.5 offensive rebounds a game in regulation. More importantly, that 12.5 rebounds is off of 37.5 missed shots, field goals and free throws combined, meaning they get an offensive rebound 33 percent of the time. In this game, they had 60 missed shots, so their offensive rebound rate was 18.3 percent, a dramatic drop-off.

3. Interior defense was elite.

Texas Tech wasn’t much better shooting the three-ball, as they went 4-of-24 on the night. However, the Vols really stood out down low, and their interior defense combined with that poor shooting was the only thing to keep them in the game. John Fulkerson, the only player to score double figures with 10 points, led the way with five blocks down low.

Fulkerson had a double-double with 10 rebounds as well. The team as a whole had eight blocks. They created lots of turnovers in the paint as well to force 15 on the night in general, and TTU shot 19-of-61 from the field as a result. This was Tenessee basketball’s biggest positive on the night.