NASHVILLE, Tn. — Tennessee basketball led with 10 minutes to play before doing little right down the stretch and following to the Fighting Illini 75-62 on Saturday night.
It marked the Vols’ third straight loss and the same issues persist for Rick Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team early this season. Here’s three quick takeaways on the loss.
Bunnies, Free Throws And Nate Ament
Tennessee’s offense beat itself at times with its inability to do the easy stuff. Start at the free throw line where the Vols made just eight-of-18 attempts. Tennessee shot four more free throws than Illinois but scored the same amount of poitns.
The Vols were nearly as bad missing bunnies. Ja’Kobi Gillespie missed two wide open layups including one with no one even in the vicinity. Jaylen Carey missed a number of shots around the rim that were not necessarily easy but absolutely shots that you have to make in tough games. JP Estrella had one that would fall under that category too.
Then throw in Nate Ament’s night. The five-star freshman remained inefficient, making just four-of-14 shots from the field on his way to nine points.
Combine those three things and a game that could have had a solid offensive performance turned very underwhelming.
Offensive Rebounding Was One Of The Few Positives
Illinois entered the top 15 matchup ranked 10th nationally in defensive rebounding. That posed a major roadblock for a Tennessee team that ranked third nationally in offensive rebounding and relies heavily on controlling the offensive glass to score.
Yet, Tennessee absolutely dominated the offensive glass in the game’s first 20 minutes. The Vols totaled 13 first half offensive rebounds on just 20 missed shots. It was a dominant effort on the glass and what Tennessee needed as they struggled to create open first chance looks. Tennessee scored 12 second chance points in the first half and it led to a decent offensive showing in the game’s first 20 minutes.
Illinois cut off the tap a bit in the second half which led to the issues mentioned in the above section being more prevalent.
But the Vols still finished the night by grabbing 23 offensive rebounds. It was one of the few areas Tennessee truly excelled against Illinois.
More From RTI: JP Estrella ‘Expected To Be Available’ For Tennessee Basketball Against Illinois
Tennessee’s Defense Was Terrible In The Second Half
Tennessee’s defense was not great in the first half despite Illinois scoring just 32 points in a low possession half. The Vols defense was absolutely putrid in the second half.
Illinois scored 43 second half points for an incredibly 1.536 points per possession. There was absolutely no shortage of issues for Tennessee but on the top of the list was the Vols’ absolute inability to stay in front of the ball.
The Fighting Illini got switches they wanted and it created easy looks at rim and open looks from the perimeter. Then as Illinois put the final touches on the win, Tennessee’s defensive rebounding was embarrassing. The Illini got three shots on one possession twice in the final three minutes of the game.
In total, Illinois grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the second half which accounted for 50% of its misses.
Up Next
Tennessee has nine days off before returning home to face Louisville on Tuesday, Dec. 16. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET and ESPN is broadcasting the game.
