Yeah. I pre-wrote this one pretty early. Turned it off very early, too. Sue me.
The Tennessee Volunteers followed up its 76-52 clubbing of Arkansas by completely and utterly no-showing in Gainesville on Tuesday night against the Florida Gators 73-43. It was the worst loss by an AP unbeaten #1 team since at least 1968.
Tennessee scored about 4 points for the first 9 minutes, and while they battled somewhat hard on the defensive end for the first part of the half, Florida dominated inside and found one-on-one opportunities in the paint in the half.
Tennessee, on the other hand, stacked more bricks than Butch Jones in the first half. The team shot 0-14 and 4-28 from the field. I dare anyone to find a worse shooting performance for a half in Tennessee basketball history. The score was 34-15 heading into the locker room, and I shut it off to spend a few minutes with my family.
I turned it back on, and…..yeah. More of the same. Tennessee had no answers on offense, taking too many jumpers, and when they did drive and get a step, they’d kick it to the perimeter instead of trying to attack the rim. A brick would follow. 43-18 was enough for me early in the second half. Do we really need to go over the rest?
The Vols were due for a loss, and this was a spot for it, but my goodness, how this team didn’t compete in the slightest bit. Something was obviously in their heads to be that much off as a team shooting. I’m curious to hear Rick Barnes’ comments about what the heck that was, but for now….yeah. Man, the SEC is going to be a meat grinder this year. Have to play harder and more composed than that.
Curious to hear what Rick Barnes has to say about this hot mess tonight.