Down four points with 18 seconds remaining, Tennessee basketball needed a quick basket to stay in the game at Missouri Tuesday night. Instead, Ja’Kobi Gillespie lost the ball for the Vols’ 15th turnover of the night as the Tigers’ sealed a 73-69 victory.
“You can’t turn the ball over 15 times like we did and expect to win a game,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said postgame. “And we were there within a possession late in the game, but the way we played, we really didn’t deserve to win it. And give (Missouri) credit for that.”
Barnes noted that he did not think Tennessee was locked in from the start of the game when the Vols settled for a three-pointer on three of their first four possessions. But the turnover issue didn’t start until later.
Tennessee had just two turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game and three of its first four turnovers were explainable. Two were players grabbing rebounds while falling out of bounds trying to save the ball. Another turnover came when a Missouri defender clearly fouled Bishop Boswell.
But as the half went on, Tennessee sped up and started turning the ball over at an extremely high rate. Secondary ball handlers Ethan Burg, Troy Henderson and Boswell all recorded at least one first half turnover.
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“We go to our bench and I think everybody who played in the game tonight had a turnover.” Barnes said. “Seemed like it to me, other than the post guys didn’t … I think every guard in the game had a turnover. And that’s a problem.”
Those first half turnover issues derailed the Vols’ strong start to the game. Tennessee jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the game’s first six minutes before scoring just 15 points in the final 14 minutes of the first half. The Vols led by just three points at halftime despite Missouri missing all nine three-point attempts in the first half.
Missouri’s offense woke up in the second half but Tennessee’s turnover problem persisted. While the Vols shot better from the field in the second half, their seven second half turnovers kept them from keeping up with the Tigers’ explosive offensive outburst.
“First is the turnovers,” Boswell said on the Vol Network postgame. “We gave them 23 points in transition. I think it was a two-point game down the stretch, so if you take some of those turnovers away, you know, mine included, you know, the game looks probably a little bit different.”
It’s a disappointing setback for Tennessee. The Vols had two of their best turnover performance of the season last week against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. Tennessee’s 22.9% turnover rate against Missouri was just the second game where the Vols’ turnover rate exceeded 20% since its overtime win over Texas A&M.
Taking care of the basketball was a major reason why Tennessee has played so much better over the last six weeks. They took a step in the wrong direction at Missouri on Tuesday night.
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