Vols' improved shooting and other observations from Tuesday's win at Missouri

Tennessee's Santiago Vescovi scores past Missouri's Kobe Brown during the second half of the visiting Vols' 69-59 SEC win Tuesday night in Columbia, Mo. / AP Photo/L.G. Patterson
Tennessee's Santiago Vescovi scores past Missouri's Kobe Brown during the second half of the visiting Vols' 69-59 SEC win Tuesday night in Columbia, Mo. / AP Photo/L.G. Patterson

KNOXVILLE - If the last two games are any indication, the Tennessee men's basketball team may have found its 3-point stroke.

The Volunteers, who earned a 69-59 road victory over Missouri on Tuesday, made 11 3-point baskets in improving to 9-5 for the season and 1-1 in Southeastern Conference play.

It was far from a clean effort - the Vols turned the ball over 21 times - but after losing four of their last five games, it was a step in the right direction, particularly for a nine-player rotation that features five freshmen.

Here are three next-day observations from the win:

* Ebbs and flows with freshman PGs: Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has had to turn the primary ball-handling drills over to freshman guards Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi, and the Vols are going to have to deal with the result. Tuesday it was a net positive, as the pair combined for 23 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. James was the best player on the court in the second half, when he scored all 11 of his points while adding five rebounds and three assists, and Vescovi overcame a slow start to score all 12 of his points in the final 5:20, including the go-ahead 3-pointer. The negative was nine turnovers, which will be something they have to work through as opponents continue to pressure Vescovi up the court.

photo Missouri's Dru Smith, left, pushes through Tennessee's Josiah-Jordan James, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, in Columbia, Mo. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

* Who was that No. 13 in orange? Once essentially left for dead on the roster, Jalen Johnson appears to have found his touch. In the past three games, the 6-foot-6 junior guard has averaged 6.7 points and 4.3 rebounds while making five of nine shots from 3-point range. In the previous 11 games, he was 4-for-16 from 3. Against the Tigers, he scored a career-high 11 points. His three 3s came in a 2:38 stretch in the first half. He played a career-high 29 minutes in the game, minutes earned by his ability to remain solid defensively, an issue in prior games.

* Bowden bouncing back? One the subject of finding a stroke, Jordan Bowden took a step forward in recapturing his. The team's lone senior didn't have a great game - he was 5-for-12 from the field and 2-for-7 from 3 - but had 13 points, four rebounds and three assists while playing all 40 minutes. Struggling with his shots in previous games (he was 3-for-25 in the two games since classmate Lamonte Turner announced he was having season-ending shoulder surgery), he got going with a couple of fast-break layups in the first half. That appeared to give him confidence, as he scored nine of the Vols' first 15 points. He also knocked down a huge 3 with 2:26 remaining after Missouri had cut the deficit to 61-56.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.

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