KNOXVILLE – Minutes after his first big SEC home win, Tennessee basketball coach Cuonzo Martin spoke of the importance of protecting the home floor in conference play.
“The great ones find ways to win on the road,” the Volunteers coach said last Saturday after UT beat Florida. “It might be an ugly performance, but you’ve got to find a way to win.”
The Vols learned that the hard way on Thursday night. UT missed a handful of opportunities at an upset (and a 2-0 league start) with a 62-58 loss at 20th-ranked Mississippi State. The Times Free Press was not in Starkville, but here are some thoughts and analysis from UT’s road trip.
GOLDEN UNTIL THE END
Tennessee would not have been in this game without point guard Trae Golden, but another late-game moment certainly had the sophomore thinking on the trip back home. Golden finished with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting with four 3-pointers, four rebounds and four assists. But much like the end of UT’s loss in December to Pittsburgh, a play at the end looms in perhaps a larger light.