Vols Pummel Georgia in Basketball

It was about like I expected. I still say the game meant little. We took the #122 RPI team on the road to play the #1 RPI team, and the resulting outcome was about like what you would expect. UT 85 - UGA 69.

The next 3 games will let us know where we're going.

Here's my issue with the game...no the program as a whole. My source of frustration if you will. I'm no hoops guru, but I know three things to pretty much be unshakable, unwavering hoops truths:

1. If you don't hustle defensively on the road, you don't win.

2. If you don't pass well or move without the ball effectively, you're easy to defend. I think it was Bobby Knight who said, "The easiest man to defend is the man standing still."

3. Moving and passing intelligently do NOT depend on talent.

I believe those are pretty much bedrock hoops principles. It's easier to win if you have superior talent obviously. However, if you do the above things, you'll give yourself a better chance to win independent of your talent level.

In my opinion, we struggle with all 3 issues, and we have for the vast majority of Dennis Felton's entire 4.5 year tenure. I personally see no reason why upgrading our talent will make us better hustlers, more intelligent passers or move without the ball with competence. If we're not doing it now, when will we?

But I digress.

Like I said earlier. This one game shouldn't change anyone's opinion one way or the other about the current or future direction of this program. The game was meaningless, and it played out as any logical observer would have expected.

We should take nothing away from the Tennessee program. They are one helluva basketball team. They obliterated us defensively, and wavered between toying with us and pummeling us offensively. They are exceptional.

Tidbits from the Game:

• Per Dennis Felton, "We came out soft with everything. Soft with the ball, soft with our passes, soft with the dribble, soft with our post game. We were just soft."
  
  
• Dave Bliss had the half of his life scoring 15 points in the second. The rest of our forwards/centers (Price, AJax and Barnes) combined to 3-9. That stat is inflated by two garbage buckets by Barnes late. In the first half, they were as useless as tits on a bull.
  
  
• Georgia had 21 turnovers and 11 assists. When you don't pass or move well, it's not uncommon to have 2-1 turnovers to assists. We only had 26 field goals. The team committed 15 turnovers before it sank its fifth basket. (per Bradley)
  
  
• The team's RPI jumped 22 spots in the loss due to the overwhelmingly strong nature of the Vols RPI.
  
  
  
• UGA scored 1 field goal from 18:55 until 11:41 left in the first. A span of around 7 minutes. After a quick couple of buckets, Georgia then went about 9 more minutes with only 1 made field goal in the first half. While we struggled so savagely offensively, Felton did not bother to call a single timeout. Not one. The only stops in play came from television. We've got 15 turnovers and 5 field goals, but he didn't think some chalkboard time would help? So keep on trucking, I guess. Felton didn't call a timeout until 9 minutes left in the second half as the Vols hit 3 consecutive barely contested dunks.(Chart: ESPN)
  

They are a good team, but you have to be able to manufacture SOMETHING offensively.

On to Columbia. I'm pretty sure that the Gamecocks have lost their last two games to us in the Carolina Center. It's a winnable game against an SC team that is playing hard, but has virtually nothing to show for it.

See Also:
-- Hard Truth - AJC
-- Not as close as it should be - Bradley

PWD

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