Multiple college basketball coaches who have faced Tennessee this season have described the Volunteers as Final Four material.
Wednesday night’s 77-72 loss by the No. 5 Vols at Mississippi State revealed a recurring factor that would prevent such a March journey from taking place.
In all four of Tennessee’s setbacks this season, opposing big men have had their way against junior forward Jonas Aidoo and sophomore forward Tobe Awaka. It’s been especially difficult for Aidoo, who fouled out against Purdue, North Carolina and again Wednesday.
“It’s frustrating, because we think our guys can do it,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after Mississippi State sixth-year senior forward Tolu Smith III scored 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor and a 9-of-12 showing at the free-throw line. “We love it when they help us score, but we’ve got to be able to guard other people’s post players.
“I know that we’re more than capable of doing it, but we’ve got to prove we can do it.”
Purdue’s Zach Edey also scored 23 against the Vols, while North Carolina’s Armando Bacot tallied 22. Aidoo fouled only twice against Kansas, but Hunter Dickinson was still a challenging assignment and scored 17.
In Wednesday’s setback, Aidoo fouled out with 4:55 remaining, having collected nine points and five rebounds, which was half the output from his 24-point, 10-rebound effort in last Saturday night’s 90-64 rout of Ole Miss. Aidoo is averaging 23.3 minutes per game but only 18 minutes in contests in which he hasn’t been able to finish.
“We knew Smith was an outstanding offensive player, but he just took it wherever he wanted to go,” Barnes said. “Our guys can’t allow him to do that. It’s getting better leverage. It’s getting down low and holding your ground. If you do that, we can come and help.”
The other concerning aspect to Wednesday’s loss that has recurred every so often was the disappearance of guards Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi. While Zakai Zeigler continues to play brilliantly and while Dalton Knecht may have broken out of his slump with 28 points in Starkville, the two fifth-year seniors for the Vols combined for just five points on 2-of-12 shooting.
“We’ve got to know what we’re going to get from those two guys and from everybody else,” Barnes said. “We’re just so inconsistent. You think you’re getting there and taking a couple steps forward, but then you take a step backward.
“Zakai just continues to do a great job of what we need him to do, but overall we’ve got to have more consistency.”
Tennessee could be facing the Southeastern Conference’s most improved team Saturday when the Vols (11-4, 1-1 SEC) visit Georgia (12-3, 2-0) in a noon showdown on ESPN2. The Bulldogs of Mike White, who is the older brother of Tennessee athletic director Danny White, have opened league play with last Saturday’s 75-68 win at Missouri and Wednesday night’s 76-66 downing of Arkansas.
It’s the first 2-0 conference start for Georgia since 2014, but the Vols will be looking inward before traveling to Athens.
“Losses like this don’t break us. They make us,” Zeigler said. “We won’t really suffer from this too much. We’ll learn from our mistakes and get better.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.