Lexington, KY. -Tennessee’s second-half slide led to another loss to Kentucky, 74-71.
Despite Nate Ament’s standout performance, the Vols were outscored 41-24 after halftime after taking a 47-33 lead into the break. Tennessee struggled to contain the ball against Kentucky’s five-out spacing and missed too many point-blank looks at the rim, two problems that flipped the game. The Wildcats ramped up the defensive pressure, got downhill, and Tennessee’s offense stalled into tougher shots.
Here are three takeaways from the Vols’ first loss in three weeks.
Saturday’s loss followed a familiar script, but the reasons go deeper than one bad stretch. A closer look at the patterns and details that keep resurfacing for Tennessee.
Beaten Off the Bounce
Rick Barnes won’t be satisfied with Tennessee’s defensive effort. The Vols were solid for stretches, but they had too many possessions where on-ball containment and communication weren’t sharp.
Tennessee struggled to stay in front of Otega Oweh, the SEC preseason player of the year. The senior beat multiple defenders off the dribble, including Bishop Boswell and Nate Ament, and repeatedly got downhill in one-on-one situations. The first Kentucky bucket set the tone. Oweh turned the corner on Boswell and finished an easy layup. Another example came with 6:17 left, when Oweh caught it in the corner, beat him baseline, and finished an acrobatic left-handed layup.
Against Kentucky’s five-out spacing, Tennessee has to win more of those matchups at the point of attack. There’s less help at the rim, and every blow-by collapses the defense and forces rotations. Oweh finished 10-for-17 with 21 points. Barnes will point to it as a reminder that Tennessee has to guard the ball better, even when other parts of its game are clicking.
Ament at Another Level
Nate Ament has complete control of his game. The freshman struggled with confidence and shooting early in the season, but those concerns are in the past.
Ament matched a season-high 29 points and once again scored on all three levels. The wing had 19 first-half points, and his biggest stretch came in the final 2:08 before halftime. He ran the floor well, and Boswell found him for a big slam in transition. About 30 seconds later, Ament was back on the break. Gillespie hit him in stride, and the freshman controlled his body, drew the foul, and banked in an acrobatic finish. Ament delivered another big basket with 5:23 left when he grabbed an offensive rebound and drilled a fading jumper for the and-one. He played under control, never rushed, and he made Kentucky pay when it made mistakes.
Ament’s 3-point shooting has taken a real jump. He shot 19-for-70 (27.1%) from deep in his first 17 games, but over the last six games he is 13-for-26 (50%) from 3. His confidence was on full display against Kentucky. Tennessee consistently created drive-and-kick looks to free him up, and Ament punished the defense when it helped off him.
Missed Layups
A concerning trend continued for Tennessee. Finishing at the rim has been an issue.
The Vols finished 3-for-7 on attempts at the rim (2-for-5 in the second half). That comes one game after they went 5-for-13 on layups against Ole Miss. Tennessee is generating the right looks, but too many point-blank chances are turning into empty possessions, even when the Vols win the effort battle on the glass. With less than 11 minutes left in the first half, Tennessee grabbed three offensive rebounds on one trip and still came up empty when JP Estrella and DeWayne Brown missed attempts right at the rim. Against top teams, those are the possessions that swing momentum and turn into runouts the other way.
Too often, the Vols rushed point-blank attempts instead of gathering and finishing strong. Tennessee can live with missed jumpers, but it can’t leave points on the table at the rim if it wants to beat elite teams in March.
Tennessee had control at halftime, but the details did not hold up in the second.
