Four thoughts on a gritty road win
Tennessee (9-8, 2-3) finally got the road monkey off its back this afternoon, winning for the first team away from home this season, 80-75 over Mississippi State (7-9, 0-4). The Vols did it with senior Armani Moore on the bench with an ankle injury, and got some stepped up performances to get there.
1) Short-handed, but stepped-up — With Armani Moore out with an ankle injury, someone had to step up. That someone was Detrick Mostella who did so in a big way. The sophomore set a career high with 25 points, a total that included five three pointers and five points in the closing minute to help preserve the win.
Mostella got the start in Moore’s place made the already undersized Vols downright minuscule. The starting line-up consisted of Admiral Schofield (6-5), Robert Hubbs (6-4), Kevin Punter (6-2), Devon Baulkman, (6-4) and Mostella (6-2).
Derek Reese ended up playing big minutes off the bench in place of Schofield and turned in a solid performance with eight rebounds.
Robert Hubbs was also huge down the stretch with some big shots. One, with just under 10 minutes left held off a Mississippi State run that had cut what was a 38-27 halftime lead to 51-46. He got another tough, contested bucket in the paint with 3:44 left gave the Vols some breathing room at 66-60 after the Bulldogs had cut the lead to four.
It was a nice stepped up effort from Hubbs who also added five rebounds to his line.
2) Tough and Smart —Rick Barnes talks a often about ‘winning time,’ that time at the end of tight games when you don’t necessarily have to make great plays, but you certainly can’t make dumb ones, and you have to be solid. It’s not a skill this team has displayed with a great deal of consistency, but they did today down the stretch, and really, for most of the game.
Tennessee was efficient with its possessions, turning the ball over only eight times in the game, a great number on the road. That had the effect of limiting easy run out baskets for Mississippi State, which was key, because the Vols were sound on defense, but not great, allowing the Bulldogs to make 47% from the floor. What Tennessee was very good at defensively was eliminating easy looks from beyond the arc. Mississippi State was just 5-of-19 from deep, a key failing late as they were trying to mount a come back.
Lastly, the Vols didn’t let the Bulldogs overwhelm them with size in the paint. The smaller line-up struggled to some degree with Gavin Ware, especially in the second half, and they were out-rebounded 40-31 in the game and had to overcome a 17-9 disadvantage on the offensive boards. They were able to overcome that with some stellar three-point shooting of their own (10-of-23) and taking advantage of the mismatches the smaller line-up game them on the offensive end.
3) — Take advantage of opportunities — This is something the Vols singularly failed to do in a road loss at Georgia on Wednesday. The Bulldogs turned the ball over 16 times in the first half of that game, but Tennessee didn’t capitalize like it needed to. They did build a seven point halftime lead, but it easily could have been 12-14.
Today, when the Vols had a chance to build a cushion in the first half, they seized it. Both Ware and Josh Sword were limited early by foul trouble. Ware played just 10 minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul and Sword was on the floor for only nine minutes.
That proved to be huge as Ware crushed the Vols in the second half 17 points and six boards.
Tennessee took advantage of the two veterans being on the bench, building a 38-27 halftime lead while shooting 50% from the field. That wasn’t all a result of Ware and Sword being out, the Vols were on fire early, starting the game 5-of-6 from three-point range and 7-of-9 overall.
4) Close the deal — That 11 point halftime lead guaranteed nothing, as close followers of this team can tell you. Tennessee had previously led at the half of all four of its SEC games, but had closed the deal only once, at home against Florida. They didn’t falter down the stretch today though, and they had their chances.
Mississippi State cut the lead to two points twice in the second half and whittled it all the way down to 60-59 with 5:15 left, but the Vols never blinked. Tennessee came up with an answer every time and Mississippi State was never able to tie or take the lead.
Montella came up with a huge three to answer a run that carried the Bulldogs all the way to within 53-51 with 7:44 left, pushing it back to 56-51. Punter dropped in a pressure-filled jumper to thwart the Bulldogs after they’d cut it to 60-59, making it a three-point game with 5:09 left and Mississippi State would never be able to get any closer.
That’s because Tennessee took care of business down the stretch in a way we haven’t seen them do this season. The Vols had just one turnover in the final five minutes when the Bulldogs were selling out on defense with pressure.
On the offensive end, in the final five minutes, all Tennessee was make five straight shots at one point, many of them at or near the end of the shot clock after running as much time as possible off. That’s always a killer for the defense, and in this case it helped close the deal on a game the Vols deserved to win.
Hats off to Rick Barnes and the coaching staff for having this team ready. Tennessee has worked a great deal in practice this week on its zone offense, and it showed with how the Vols were able to carve Mississippi State up early on.
The coaching staff also deserves some credit for coming up for a plan to get by without Moore and being able to execute that plan on the road. Just a stepped up effort for everyone involved this afternoon in Starkville.