Jaylen Carey took the entry pass in the paint from a stumbling Ja’Kobi Gillespie with seven seconds remaining, and put a shot up before the ball trickled off the rim.
Tennessee basketball got a look it wanted with the dominant 267-pound Carey, who led the way with 22 points on the night, but the leading shot did not fall — and Syracuse left with a 62-60 upset at the JMA Wireless Dome on Tuesday.
It is the No. 13 Vols’ (7-2) second consecutive loss this season, coming off a defining win over then-third-ranked Houston. A one-dimensional offensive effort and serious struggles with turnovers led to the demise of Tennessee in its first true road game of the season.
“It’s just focus,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “Scouting report. Guys not locked in. Guys thinking about anything other than what they should be thinking about.”
That was the emphasis before Monday’s practice. Barnes noted the first three defensive possessions of the Kansas game, which handed Tennessee its first loss of the year, were the three worst possessions Barnes has seen from his team this season.
It seeped into the first half on Tuesday night, allowing Orange guard Nate Kingz to score 19 first-half points. Syracuse carried a 32-30 lead into the break, due in part to Tennessee’s inability to maintain possession on the offensive end.
The Vols turned the ball over nine times over the first 20 minutes, and it compounded to 17 by the time fans stormed the court. Syracuse made the most of the gifted opportunities, scoring 24 points off turnovers.
“You’ve gotta do what you practice,” Barnes said. “And that’s what’s bothered me the last two games. We don’t do what we practice. That’s what bothers me.”
Learning the curve
When Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament have been ineffective this season, the remaining Vols have not been able to grapple with what it takes to overcome an off night. That proved to be the case when the two combined for 21 points on 7-for-22 shooting, including nine turnovers.
Ament provided the worst game of his young career in the battle, going for 11 points on 2-for-10 shooting, while turning the ball over seven times alone. It became a mental game for the young freshman, as proved by a simple turnover on a full-court feed by Gillespie that went straight through his hands and out of bounds on a second-half fastbreak.
“(It’s) a whole lot harder,” Barnes said. “And he’s not going to be able to do the things that he did in high school. It’s a process. We knew he’d go through it, but he’s going to have to listen because we’re telling him.”
Barnes knows Ament will still have to learn on the fly, though. He has to understand the flow of the game while playing an instrumental role as a focal piece on both ends of the court.
“He’s putting so much pressure on himself, and he doesn’t need to do that,” Barnes said. “He’s got good guys around him.”
The same goes for Gillespie, even if he is in his fourth year at the collegiate level. He’s being asked to assume a role he did not have in the past at point guard, while also navigating the roster construction that lacks another guard who is experienced and can run the offense behind him.
It boils down to the ball-screen actions, Barnes said, that the play has been there — it just hasn’t been executed.
“He’s learning how to run a team,” Barnes said. “He’s never really been asked to do that at a high level; make the right plays, read what’s going on … When I looked at it at halftime, it was there every time, but they tried to do something else to compound and make it harder. It didn’t need to be any harder, but that’s again, part of the learning process.”
Impactful frontcourt pairing
But for the bad that came out of Tuesday’s loss, Barnes continues to see growth out of his frontcourt. Vanderbilt transfer Jaylen Carey settled in during the three-game stretch in Las Vegas, but that compounded positively against Syracuse.
Carey, a physically imposing big man despite his 6-foot-8 height, went for a career-high 22 points against the Orange. He owned the paint with a 10-for-16 shooting night. Carey added three strong offensive boards and totaled a team-high nine.
“Played hard,” Barnes said. “Maybe as hard as we’ve seen him play, trying to work on both ends, and you know, he’s a guy that’s a problem for teams. But I thought Jaylen really gave us a lot there. I think he should have got the ball more, because he’s not selfish, he’ll make the right play out of it.”
DeWayne Brown II showed up as another impactful option off the bench, giving a spark when the guard play ‘wasn’t very good.’ The freshman big earned 22 minutes, and gave four points, five rebounds and three assists.
“The biggest mistake I’d made in Vegas was not giving him enough minutes,” Barnes said. “And tonight, I think is going to really bode well for him going forward.”
Though the pairing of Brown and Carey isn’t vertically taxing, with the two standing at 6-foot-8 apiece, the motor of each makes it a substantial physical battle for the opponent. Brown gave a plus-12 plus/minus for the Vols, while Carey went for plus-five.
They were two of four that gave a positive statistic in the category, joining fellow bench mates Amari Evans and Amaree Abram — who each had a plus-one.
“Well, we’ve seen it all summer,” Barnes said. “They practiced together and we’re just waiting on both of them to get where they need to be defensively. That’s been the biggest key. I mean, there’s no doubt we know when they’re on the floor, offensively, that’s our best front line.”
The last time Tennessee basketball lost two games in a row, it rebounded for a 20-point win over eventual national champion Florida in February. The Vols have Illinois in the Music City Madness event on Dec. 6 at Bridgestone Arena.
