Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols’ dominant win at Missouri

In a solid rebound from last Saturday’s loss at the Arkansas Razorbacks, Tennessee basketball, ranked No. 17 in both polls, dominated the Missouri Tigers and former UT head coach Cuonzo Martin in their arena Tuesday night. The Vols won 80-61, continuing their run of no back to back losses this year.

Rick Barnes’ team was locked in a tight one through the first nine minutes. However, trailing 17-15, Rocky Top then went on a 13-0 run to take control of the game. Mizzou never got within six after that. Another 9-0 run in the second half put the Vols up by 21, and Mizzou never got within 12 over the final 10 minutes.

The win moves the Vols to 20-7 overall and 11-4 in the SEC with a visit from the No. 3/4 ranked Auburn Tigers and former UT head coach Bruce Pearl Saturday. Missouri falls to 10-18 and 4-11 in SEC play with a trip to the LSU Tigers set for Saturday. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s victory.

1. Guard play carried the offense.

You couldn’t ask for much better than 9-of-18 from the three-point line, 15-of-19 from the free throw line, 15 assists and only nine turnovers. In this game, it’s all because of the Vols’ guards. Kennedy Chandler was the biggest star, putting up 23 points and six assists with no turnovers while shooting 2-of-4 from three and an insane 9-of-12 from the field.

Santiago Vescovi was his usual self, going 4-of-6 from three en route to 14 points. The big story, though, was Victor Bailey Jr. off the bench. Bailey’s minutes have been limited this year, but he came out and went 5-of-8 from the field, hitting his only three-point attempt en route to 11 points. Josiah-Jordan James still had nine points, and Zakai Zeigler had six along with two assists.

2. Defense was locked in.

While James struggled offensively, he remained the dominant force on defense with two steals. In fact, Chandler, James, and Vescovi all had two steals. Vescovi also had a block, and coming off the bench, Jonas Aidoo had a repeat of his performance last week against the Kentucky Wildcats with three blocks.

This type of dominance is how Tennessee basketball was able to force Mizzou to shoot 19-of-52 from the field and 5-of-20 from three. They were 18-of-23 from the free throw line and only committed 13 turnovers, which isn’t terrible, so contesting every shot on defense, which they have done all year, is how the Vols controlled this game.

3. John Fulkerson needs to get healthy.

Despite Aidoo’s defense in the paint, the Vols have a serious issue overall. Olivier Nkamhoua is out for the season, and since he’s still banged up, John Fulkerson only played six minutes. If UT’s guards weren’t hitting their threes, this game could have been a problem. Aidoo, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Uros Plavsic all have serious issues.

Those three combined to go 4-of-17 from the field, with Aidoo going 1-of-8. They did win the rebounding edge, but that’s because Chandler and James outrebounded their fellow guards with eight and six boards respectively. Tennessee basketball can’t keep this up. If Fulkerson isn’t full strength soon, they’ll have a huge problem.