Hogwired.com: Big Second Half Sends No. 4 Volunteers Past Razorbacks
JaJuan Smith scored 32 points, including six 3-pointers, to lead No. 4 Tennessee in a 93-71 rout of Arkansas on Wednesday night.
Also:
- Hogwired.com: Game Stats (PDF)
- ESPN.com: Smith solid from beyond arc as Tennessee topples Arkansas
- Ryan Malashock: Smith’s Outburst Dooms Razorbacks
- Robbie Neiswanger: Foul Trouble Plagues Beverley
- Harry King: Vols too much for UA
- Bob Holt: Orange onslaught, In the lane
- David Showers: Caught off guard
- The Tennessean: Vols roll as guard recovers, Vols finally find success with foul shots
- Knoxville News Sentinel: Flu shots for JaJuan Smith, Work on power moves at Pratt pays off bigtime
Updated 2/14/08 8:30 a.m.
it is painfully obvious that the lack of a true point gaurd is the #1 issue with this team.
and they came out in the second half like they forgot that they were playing a top five team. coaches have to accept the blame for that.
the perimeter defense that made tennessee an inside team the first half disappeared.
next years backcourt will be young but more suited for pel's style.
if only weems and townes were back, we could be contenders for the sec crown.
You've got to give credit where it's due. Tennessee is a very good ball club. Thier peaking at the right time too. I would love to see these guys take on Memphis. Talk about a defensive match-up, now that would be it. The Hogs played well up until the first few minutes of the second half, but after that they lost momentum, and never could get it back. You can tell were just not quite on the same level of talent as those guys are. When they come to play, they come to play hard, and if they get any better than what they already are, it's gonna take some kind of team effort for somebody to knock these guys off come NCAA tourney time. It's pretty conclusive now that when your sizing up the SEC, you have the Vols, and then you have everybody else. Plain and simple. Miss. St., Arkansas, Florida, Ole Miss, and Vandy are all second fiddle to these guys.
Well said Gonzo, Semo.
You don't beat the No. 4 team in the nation when one of their studs is having a career night. Can that guy shoot or what? We gave good effort at times. We should get some road wins this year against lesser teams. I'm sure point guard is a big problem but I wonder if that is the same thing as having a basketball IQ. We don't play very smart or consistently. We are learning to play hard but we look so confused at times.
Hawgball is all about the defense. If you give up 93 you are in trouble. If you play the great D you feed the break. We don't have a point but just as importantly we don't have a feel for the flow of the game. We are not playing the hawgball yet. They had a few spurts at home last week. Maybe they will pick it up before the tournament.
I don't want to make excuses but I don't think anyone can play the Vols girls or guys at home and win. That was the worst case of officiating last night that I have seen in a while. I remember yelling for the 3 second call on the vols when I think it was smith drove it into the lane and was stopped made about three or four moves before putting it up but no call was made then the Hogs get it about 2 or 3 plays later and get a 3 second call. I also thought some of the foul calls took the Hogs out of there zone I am courious to know how many fouls were called on us compared to them. I may be a still be a little bitter after watching the Rutger girls get cheated the other night by Tennessee. I think this team is good but on a nuetral court the Hogs take them out.
We can't hit anything with consistency, one of their 'studs' couldn't miss if you had a gun to his head (I think he scored 32?), and the officiating was just horrendous. Anyone see the tap-in for UT while the ball was still in the cylinder? How about all those blocking fouls? Arkansas sets up good charge fouls but not last night. I don't think I saw a one in the second half. And I don't remember many blocking fouls called on Ut either. Wasn't it a charge on Thomas that got Coach so exercised (enough for a technical)?
I agree with DieingHog: you get these guys on a neutral court against a good team with half way decent refs, they're done.
I think last night was a bit of an anomaly. Tenn. probably played their best game of the year and we showed up flat. I don't think we are 20 better than Fla. and I don't think Tenn was 20 better than us. The officiating must have been something because I was listening to the Tenn. feed and those goes are complete homers yet they were even saying we got jobed a few times. It was just a bad night. Its a wake up call and at least it happened against a team we'd be hard pressed to beat on a good night. My problem with Stan's teams is that we always had those kind of games against teams we should have beat by 10. I couldn't care less about that game if we can get our legs back under us and come out of Starkville with a W.
It's hard to play effective D when the officials are blowing the whistle every time someone contests a shot. The officiating was terrible, and our early foul trouble reflected that fact. Take away half the fouls in the first half (TN was 12-13 or something crazy) and we're up at halftime. In the second half, it was difficult to get momentum when we were getting hacked driving to the basket with no call. We weren't jacking up 3s early in the second, we were missing 5 to 10 footers and not able to draw fouls.
All of that would be negated if we could have hit some 3s. TN took that away from us, and when you can't draw fouls inside it's gonna be a long night.
You play that game in Bud Walton or on a neutral court it's a much different outcome.
The Hogs did not play up to their capabilities, but they tried awfully hard to compete. The officiating dominated the game. I cannot remember a game that had more inconsistency in foul calls and wherein the officials seemed to think that the game was all about them and their whistles.
That said, Tennessee played better and deserved to win, but I was not discouraged by the Arkansas effort.
If we can get a W in Starksville tomorrow, I have a strong feeling we could get on another roll. UK and "Bama are beatable away games, so this is a big one. Also, if we win, we pull in to a tie for the West div. leader with Miss. St. If we finish the year with our records tied, we should be div. champs by virtue of a sweep. This also put's us at the top on our side of the SEC Tourney bracket. Who know's, maybe we could get that shot at the Vols on a neutral court for all the marbles. That would be sweet!