Vols Find Offensive Identity

Tennessee was certainly in a lot of trouble mid-way through the second half, but the Vols displayed grit and determination and walked away with an 86-77 win in Athens today.  

Tennessee looked good in the first half against Georgia today. The Vols took a 36-32 lead into the locker room, but it could have been more. Tennessee held a 31-21 lead before Georgia outscored the Vols 11-5 to end the half. 

Tennessee held Georgia to 34.5% shooting in the first half. Tyler Smith led the Vols in scoring with 9 points and Wayne Chism added six by hitting two 3-point attempts.  

On offense the Vols played a consistent first half and did a good job of penetrating Georgia’s zone defense.  Both teams made four three pointers in the first half, the Vols hit four of twelve 3-point attempts.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The second half started with Georgia looking like the focused team. The Bulldogs took a 42-40 lead on an easy layup with just over 16 minutes left. Georgia freshman Tray Thompkins found his rhythm and score five quick points to help Georgia take the lead. 

Georgia made a 26-11 run to erase a ten point deficit to take a five point lead.

Tennessee started the second half by only hitting one of its first eleven attempts from the floor and watched as Georgia took a ten point lead at 56-46. 

The Vols still searching for an offensive identity may have found it mid-way through the second half. Tennessee repeatedly drove one-on-one to the basket and finished often enough to erase a 10 point deficit to take a twelve point lead at 86-74.   

Tennessee is shooting 31% from three point range this year, and don’t look to improve those numbers anytime soon. Hopson is throwing up air-balls while Cameron Tatum and Orlando Woolridge have been inconsistent all season.   

If Tennessee is going to find a way to win in conference play this year there are three key players that have to lead them in my opinion.  Bobby Maze, Tyler Smith, and Wayne Chism are going to have to be the scorers for the Vols.

They are the only three that have showed they can consistently take the ball to the basket and score. 

In the final six minutes of the game today, those three players did what they had to do to lead the Vols to victory. Tyler Smith scored 13 of his 24 points in the second half; he also pulled down 11 rebounds.  

The Vol defense which has looked terrible for three weeks now held Georgia to one field the final eight minutes of the game. Ricky McPhee hit a three in the final seconds after the game had long been decided.  .