What happened in Nashville didn’t stay in Nashville, not in the minds of the Tennessee faithful, I’m guessing, after what took place this weekend at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Vols and Lady Vols both lost basketball games against Vanderbilt that weren’t decided until the final possession. Imagine there’s a fan or two – or two hundred maybe – still poring over the details and grumbling, “How could this happen?”
Everyone would be better served by considering both teams going forward and asking “What can’t happen?”
Here’s a couple thoughts pertaining to each squad:
- Can’t foul 3-point shooters: The Vol have committed this sin eight times this season.
They did it twice against Vanderbilt on Saturday and the fouls were game-changers.
Zakai Zeigler picked up his second foul in this manner. The Vols point guard sat for the final seven minutes of the first half and during that stretch the Commodores converted a five-point deficit into a six-point lead.
Fellow senior Jahmai Mashack compounded the problem by fouling Tyler Nickel in the final seconds of the half, resulting in a four-point play after Nickel made both the shot and the subsequent free throw.
“We’ve done it too much this year,” UT coach Rick Barnes said, “and (Saturday) we did it and those four points are huge. And it’s just we can’t do that.”
- Can’t overdo 3-point shooting: This was a Lady Vols problem on Sunday during the second quarter, when they shot 0 for 12 on 3-pointers and fell behind by 11 points.
“If I’m a shooter and, say, I was missing a lot in the first half,” said guard Jewel Spear, who was 2-for-10 from long range, “maybe trying to get downhill and see something go in before I just keep jacking threes.”
Since the Lady Vols base a lot of their offense on long-range shooting, in-game awareness of this sort is as important as any extra shooting practice outside of games.
- Can’t be overly reliant on Chaz Lanier: The Vols’ transfer guard scored a team-high 17 points on Saturday. But he also missed a free throw with two seconds left that would’ve tied the score. Seconds earlier, he took a bad angle on a driving shot attempt, enabling Vanderbilt’s Chris Manon to both block the shot and avoid fouling.
Don’t think this would’ve happened to Lanier last season at North Florida. He’s now in the SEC, though, and still adjusting.
“This is all new for him,” Barnes said. “. . . He’s learning to play at a whole different level. I mean, it’s a whole different level. The physicality that he has seen to this point, he didn’t get it ever. And it’s not going to change.”
- Can’t be saying this and expect good results: In scoring the winning basket on Sunday, the Commodores first got to the rim against the Lady Vols’ defense and, after a miss, grabbed the offensive rebound and converted a second chance.
Afterward, coach Kim Caldwell referenced that sequence in saying: “That’s pretty much the only thing I coach is effort and rebounding. And that’s pretty much the only thing(s) they’re struggling at right now.”
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters, U.S Basketball Writers and Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.