Consistently inconsistent – that’s what they are.
Tennessee basketball Vols have managed to twist one of Rick Barnes’ favorite words, consistency, into a very unpleasant situation.
At LSU on Saturday night, they got off to a decent start, gave up a 13-2 run, trailed by seven at intermission and mostly watched as the reinvigorated Tigers surged ahead by 20. The Vols were bludgeoned.
Turn out the lights, the party was over.
But it wasn’t.
Tennessee finally got its game in gear. The Tigers paused to see what was happening. The Vols gradually chipped away. They closed to 71-66 on a Santiago Vescovi 3-pointer with three minutes remaining and had possession. Kennedy Chandler threw away the pass on an out-of-bounds play.
Fast-break layups by LSU made it 79-67 at the end.
Tennessee did not produce winning numbers. It missed 15 free throws and three-fourths of its three-point attempts. Chandler led in scoring with 19. He had six turnovers. Vescovi scored 14. Uros Plavsic had the best game of his life as a Volunteer – 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting along with seven rebounds.
Oh, how he wants to win.
There is a developing trend. The Vols haven’t won in Baton Rouge with Barnes as coach. Don’t jump ship. There is plenty of time. Things could get worse. There is a sneaky suspicion creeping in that this team may not be as good as we all thought.
The perimeter game was an exciting idea until the “good shooting” team suddenly couldn’t hit the end of the gym. There was no inside game unless John Fulkerson was at peak form. Olivier Nkamhoua can play but, in the post, he must shoot through tall trees.
There are times when the high-speed freshman guards look very much like freshmen. Older players could help more than they are. So says Barnes.
Defense has almost always been dependable. It was not at LSU. The Tigers shot 47.4 and 44.4 from behind the arc.
Barnes again placed a lot of blame on Fulkerson for this, that and everything.
The coach was going down his list of errors, blunders and disasters. He said the veterans were part of the problem instead of the solution.
“You can’t have those turnovers.”
He found Fulky’s line on the stat sheet – three points in 17 minutes, only one shot from the field. John did gather five rebounds.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” said Barnes. “We need John to help us. If not, he needs to step aside, I’m telling you.”
Ouch.
“We’ve talked to him enough about it. He’s got to know how people are playing. … He plays too vertical. He’s got to get down. I just think it gets down to where he’s got to play tougher, harder.”
Fulkerson is not the same as two weeks ago. He had 24 points and 10 rebounds as Tennessee inflicted the first loss of the season on Arizona. Virus testing knocked Fulkerson and Chandler out of the game at Alabama.
Fulkerson returned, mostly in name only, against Ole Miss. He had five points in 18 minutes. He didn’t have a rebound. He sat near Barnes for final 8:38.
He was benched for the final 7:51 in Baton Rouge.
Coming soon: Is John well or unwell?
There are other trouble spots. Josiah-Jordan James scored three points, one long shot. He missed six. He has attempted 62 this season. He has made 14.
Shooter Justin Powell logged 10 minutes and produced a string of zeros. Could be defenses have figured out his hot spots. Could be guards aren’t getting him the ball in ideal situations.
Plavsic? Heck of an evening. Inspiring. Never thought I’d say that.
Marvin West welcomes reader comments or questions. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com