Tennessee guard Nate Ament drives past Louisville’s Adrian Wooley and J’Vonne Hadley on a fast break. Ament finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, and the Volunteers shot 55 percent from the floor in Tuesday’s 83-62 win in Knoxville. Photo courtesy of Tennessee Athletics.
Vols regain offensive attack in shooting 55 percent from the floor
Louisville was without guard Mikel Brown, out with a lower back injury
Tennessee defended at a high level in shortening Louisville’s possession opportunities
The No. 20 Tennessee Volunteers came into Tuesday evening’s 83-62 win over No. 11 Louisville on a three-game losing streak with losses to Kansas and Illinois on neutral floors while dropping a 62-60 decision at Syracuse.
Tennessee struggled offensively, and the Volunteers weren’t able to defend at the patented Vol-esque level. Tennessee needed a reset and the mindset to return its presence to a 76-73 win over Houston in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend.
Nine days off and the ability to refurbish their offensive game and to readjust were major attributes in improving to 8-3. Of course, the Vols and the other 15 SEC teams have scheduled and played nearly everyone and anyone who would join them with the time and date.
“We weren’t perfect, obviously, but we’ve been really bad offensively,” said Tennessee coach Rick Barnes. “I mean, just no organization, just when what our initial set, what we didn’t get. Guys were just putting their heads down.”
Guards Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament combined for the Volunteers’ first 16 points out of halftime. Ament’s vision is consistently a huge advantage for the Vols as he found Ethan Burg for a three-pointer from the left wing to give Tennessee a 53-38 lead with 13:47 remaining.
Gillespie led all scorers with 23 points, and he was 10-0f-10 from the free throw line. Ament recorded 13 points and registered seven rebounds.
“The way we lost is what is so hard,” commented Barnes, on the recent three-game slide. “The way we lost them. Again, I’ll never take away from the other team because the final score, whoever gets the most points won the game. But from every team that goes back to look, I don’t know who it is, you look back, and we certainly have, and we felt like we should not have lost those three games.”
Tennessee shot 55 percent from the field, and the Vols assisted on 19 of 29 made field goals. Bishop Boswell joined Ament and Gillespie with his playmaking. Forward Jalen Carey found shooters on the perimeter who found open shots with Louisville’s defensive concentration on Carey in the paint and on the boxes.
“When we play inside out, like anybody, those standstill threes— you got to make a high percentage of them,” Barnes analyzed. “Make your free throws, you’ve got a chance if you can get those good looks from the inside out.”
Orange Postmen: The Vols used Carey and JP Estrella to hit an 8-0 run, which gave Tennessee a 19-9 lead with 12:39 remaining. Estrella is returning to full strength after a bruised left knee, as the Volunteers also lost 6-9 Cade Phillips to shoulder surgery in November.
Center Felix Okpara has continued as a fortress on both ends of the floor as he scored with points, blocked three shots, and accumulated three steals. At 6-11, 220, Okpara’s length and agility continue to make him an accountable member of the rotation who is a key name in most everyone’s game plans.
“I don’t care what team you are, you get a guy to come out to and play with that kind of energy and impact the ball at the ball screen and rebound as he does, and he can score the ball and block shots.”
Cardinal Landscape: Louisville suffered immensely with freshman Mikel Brown missing the game due to a lower back injury. Tennessee took advantage of its defensive ability to keep the Cardinals in the half-court, with few transitions, and the lack of ability to establish a three-point attack in transition. KenPom.com still rates the Cardinals with the No. 4 offensive efficiency, as their average possession length is 14.8 seconds per trip.
“We were hopeful the last couple of days that he’d be able to play and just to see how he responded to treatment,” said Kelsey. He was in pain the last couple of days and it limited him the last couple of days in practice. (We) tried to get him going pregame to see how he felt by the time the game started. He just wasn’t able to go.”
Adrian Wooley stepped into the starting lineup and scored 19 points in 34 minutes. Ryan Conwell led the Cards with 22 as he and Wooley combined for 20 of the Cardinals’ 27 points at halftime.
Tennessee scored 21 points on 16 Louisville turnovers as the Cardinals average 10.9 per game. In addition, the Cardinals average 17.7 points off the bench, but the Vols held a 34-3 advantage as the loss of Brown took away the normalcy of the Cards’ rotations.
“There were times when they muddy you up with their physicality and those type things, and then it kind of caused us to stop moving, not get into actions, and then we got a little bit stagnant, so things that we’ll clean up,” said Kelsey.