Tennessee blasts Texas in Knoxville, 85-71, behind 34 points from Ja'Kobi Gillespie
Texas sleepwalked into Knoxville against a Tennessee team that was and is a horrible schematic matchup, and it showed throughout the night as the Vols dominated from the opening tip. The Longhorns trailed by 15 points at the break, and despite a couple of positive stretches in the second half, were never able to make it a competitive game, and never able to get within single digits.
Vols’ defense
Tennessee’s defense swarmed the Texas offense, exposing all of its weaknesses – its inability to shoot, its lack of a lead initiator to control the pace, and its proclivity to turn the ball over in bunches. The ‘Horns simply never found any kind of rhythm. The score likely would have been more drastically in the Vols’ favor if not for the slow cadence of the game, which is Tennessee’s calling card (Bottom 40 in the nation in pace of play).
Player of the game
Led on offense by star guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who scored 34 points and had 5 assists, the Vols soundly beat Texas in nearly every facet: they shot a better percentage from the field; they recorded more points off of turnovers; they had more rebounds, more fast break points, more points in the paint, more blocks, and more steals than the Longhorns did. Texas managed to lead the game for a total of one minute and 44 seconds.
Thoughts
There’s not much to make of this performance, wherein Tennessee and former ‘Horns head coach Rick Barnes completely dominated a flatfooted Texas squad. Though the spread was 14 points, that really did not do the discrepancy between the teams justice. The matchup went exactly as one would have expected when looking at the way each team’s roster and system were formulated; without some kind of nuclear shooting performance, the Longhorns were not only not going to win this game, but likely not even be competitive.
Lack of effort
The effort and energy also left a lot to be desired, which has been a theme this season. I’m not sure why this program is expecting fans to care, let alone show up and support the team in person; the players don’t look particularly interested themselves. The schedule gets tougher from here as well, as their next game is on the road against the best offense and arguably the best overall team in the SEC in Alabama.
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Looking ahead
The way the season has gone so far, you might as well just mark their next game up as a loss unless something changes with this team’s mojo. That’s based on vibes alone. Take into account the different galaxies in which each hoops program currently resides…it doesn’t look good.
Right now, Texas basketball has no juice – people are as disinterested as ever, and the players, and by extension, the coaching staff, are not doing much to help build positive momentum. It’s not an enjoyable experience for fans who know they are walking into a blowout in a significant portion of this season’s conference games, and you can only point to “next season” so many times before fans’ eyes glaze over.
They want results, and they’re not getting results this season. It may be year one, but if there’s one thing about Texas fans, it’s that they’re certainly not known for their patience. Longhorns basketball has to change something up, or it’s going to be a very long season.
