Tennessee will have to watch the final two days of the tournament from the sidelines after they dropped their second contest to Vanderbilt in a week.
Tennessee will have to watch the final two days of the tournament from the sidelines after they dropped their second contest to Vanderbilt in a week.
Vanderbilt used a big second half, led by Duke Miles, defeating the Vols 75-68 and eliminating them from the tournament in the quarterfinals.
“From our perspective, second-half turnovers hurt us,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “We had a chance a couple of different times to put ourselves in a position to stay in the game the way we needed to. Even when we had a lead, the second-half turnovers really came at the wrong time.”
The Vols will sit and wait until Sunday night when the NCAA Tournament selection happens. They will likely be a No. 5 seed.
Just a day prior, the Vols looked like they were trending in the right direction after defeating Auburn in the second round by 10, led by none other than true-freshman Nate Ament.
Ament followed up his big game with an underwhelming showing; he went one for 13 from the field, with the majority of his 12 points coming from the free throw line.
The freshman was injured in the February 28th matchup against Alabama, suffering a high-right ankle injury that sidelined him for the rest of the game and the next two games to close the season.
“Nate tried. He did everything,” Barnes said. “Obviously, we've got to make some of those shots around the rim, got to make free throws.”
The Vols shot 38% while going just 24% from the three-point line; three of the four teams' three-pointers came from guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie. He finished with 21 points over 38 minutes, which was a team high in points.
Too many fouls at the wrong time in the second half from our perspective,” Barnes said. That would probably be the difference in the game from our perspective.”
Both teams finished with 26 free throw attempts, but the Commodores made six more free throws. Miles finished the game leading the Commodores with 30 points, shooting 11 for 14 from the field with just four attempts from the line, a very efficient day.
The players echoed the same sentiment: the free throws may have changed the game.
“Yeah, kind of what Ja'Kobi said, and coach, maybe some unnecessary fouls down the stretch,” Tennessee Forward J.P. Estrella said. “A lot of one-on-one breakdowns. Yeah, I feel like that's probably the biggest difference in the game.”
Despite shooting two for 12 to end the game, the Commodores still handled the Vols down the stretch. 18 of the Commodores' free throws came in the second half, and they missed just two.
They made the shots they needed to, while the Vols once again were too inconsistent.
“You look at it, we got to get a little more scoring from guys that didn't score today,” Barnes said. “More than anything, it's the turnovers. I think we only had two in the first half. Those seven were really important.”
Guards Amari Evans and Bishop Boswell combined for zero points, with most of the offense running through Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
“Maybe the loss today gives Ja'Kobi Gillespie a chance to get more rest,” Barnes said. “It will give Nate a chance to recover.”