Tennessee and Texas A&M delivered a great double-overtime contest that kept fans on their feet all night. Just three days removed from a big loss to Florida, Tennessee looked like it was going to lose again, but a late push from the Vols sent the game into overtime, where their talent eventually showed out.
Let's take a look at three key takeaways from the 87-82 Tennessee win.
1. Full court press fits
Tennessee had no answer for the full-court press all night. Bucky McMillan’s patented “Bucky Ball” left the Vols looking rattled and unprepared. Twice in the first half, we saw Nate Ament standing on the baseline frantically looking where he should inbound the ball.
Tennessee looked slow in their press breaks, and too many times the Vols were stagnant getting into their offensive sets. Give Texas A&M credit, though, as they are one of the best teams in the nation at forcing turnovers with a 21.3% turnover percentage. Plus, the Aggies play a style of basketball is something that Tennessee has never seen before. Tennessee did, however, take care of the ball when it was needed most.
Nevertheless, Rick Barnes’ group once again failed to take care of the basketball for most of the game, and at this point, it’s becoming a serious problem.
2. Cleaning the glass
Tennessee absolutely dominated Texas A&M on the glass. The biggest flaw of the matchup zone from the Aggies is the inability to box out at times. Tennessee took advantage of this, outrebounding Texas A&M 61 to 37. Tennessee's 20 offensive rebounds led to crucial second-chance points that were critical. Felix Okpara had a double-double, and so did Bishop Boswell.
Tennessee's physicality was what separated the Vols in this game. It was nice to see Tennessee clean up the glass because it will be needed going forward.
3. Tennessee was resilient
This was a nasty, gritty game. Neither team shot well at all. The game featured a lot of running, tough on-ball defense, and the Vols were down most of the game. Despite this, Tennessee never gave up. They played hard and constantly crawled back.
Bishop Boswell and Ja"Kobi Gillespie hustled on missed free throws, and that ended up being the difference in the game. Those small, winning plays kept piling up and fueled Tennessee’s comeback. Nate Ament took over the game in overtime, scoring 10 points in the 10 minutes, showing all of America why he is an NBA lottery pick.
The performance was far from perfect, but we can take away one thing, and that's that this team will fight. It's clear Rick Barnes has a lot of work to do, but you have to be proud of how the Vols never quit.