Well, I finally forced myself to watch the entire game film of the Tennessee game. It was not pretty, but it wasn't as bad as I really expected. Let's face it, Chris Lofton was out-of-this-world. I mean he hit three or four shots that Michael Jordan would have been proud of.
Where on earth was Robert Dozier? Did he even make the trip. With the exception of the alley-oop dunk following yet another Chris Lofton 3 pointer, I don't remember much about him. Oh yeah, there was the sequence in the first half when I think Dozier missed the dunk, the follow up rebound lay-up, and the rebound 3 footer from the lane. Then amazingly you check the box score and Dozier scored 13 points. That was the quietest 13 points in the history of basketball.
I was wrong early last week when I said I thought Willie Kemp would be fine. He looked like a freshman out of control and frankly a bit freaked out by the whole experience. 1 of 11 from the floor? Andre Allen did a fairly decent job at the point, but it didn't translate into assists. Of course, who can get assists when your team misses 55 shots from the floor.
Ok, let's give credit where it is due - Chris Lofton, wow what a performance. Duke Crews. I thought Crews really outplayed the entire Memphis front line. Joey Dorsey may have gotten 13 rebounds in 15 minutes, but Crews' 10 boards seemed more timely and obviously helped his team. How about Crews' intensity? Do the Tigers have anyone with that type of personality?
Tennessee was 17 of 20 in free throws. That is how you keep a lead once you establish it.
Ok, now access the blame..............
The Tigers were awlful from 2 feet all the way out to 25 feet. Jeremy Hunt, Antonio Anderson and Willie Kemp combined for, get this, 2 of 19 from 3 point range. The three of them were 5 of 35 from the floor. Oh my gosh!
On three different occasions the Tigers seemed poised to make a move cutting the lead to 12 in the second half. CDR was really the only Tiger who seemed like he woke up for the game, but each time a foul came or Dane Bradshaw hit a crazy jumper and the lead mushroomed back to 17.
Hats off to Tennessee............
Did everyone hear the Tennessee crowd shouting "Over-rated, Over-rated", perhaps they are correct.
I know one thing, next year's Tennessee game will be a tough ticket to come by.
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