Three games into the SEC slate, and Tennessee basketball’s footing cannot find firm ground.
The Vols opened with a disappointing loss to Arkansas behind a horrid free-throw shooting game. After bouncing back with a home win over Texas, the Vols returned to the road for a loss where everything fell apart against Florida.
A 22-4 run across the middle six — starting with 3:33 to go in the first half and concluding at the 17:35 mark of the second half — put Florida in position to run away with the 91-67 win on its home court.
“I’ll take the blame for it, because I don’t know if I’ve had a team to play that bad and do the things and make the decisions they made from out of bounds, those type thing,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “It was just really poor basketball. And that’s on me.”
It came with 18 turnovers in the game, posting 12 in the first half. Tennessee fell one turnover shy of tying a season-high that came in the opener against Mercer.
That’s the Achilles heel to Tennessee’s problems. The Vols had a 26-all tie when the demise began. Boogie Fland drilled a stepback 3-point shot, then Bishop Boswell threw up a bad pass for a turnover. Rueben Chinyelu cashed in with a layup, and the Gators took a five-point lead that expanded to 13 by halftime.
“We’re not tough enough yet as a team when things aren’t going our way to know how to fight through it,” Barnes said.
During Florida’s 13-2 run after the Vols tied the game, Tennessee committed four turnovers, shot 0-for-4 from the field and had a shot blocked.
All made a recipe for disaster — that which ensued from the moment the Vols chose against ball security.
“You can’t win this game on hope,” Barnes said. “You can’t. And give them all the credit they after that, the last four minutes on, they controlled the game and did what they wanted to do. And you know what? They got relaxed, they started playing. And we didn’t guard, we didn’t put up the resistance. Just way too many defensive breakdown coverages.”
The collapse came in all phases. With the shots not falling and easy shots off free possessions, Florida went on to shoot 8-for-11 from the floor over the final 6:36 of the first half. It brought the Gators’ shooting percentage from the mid-20’s up to 41% by the break.
That flow continued into the second half, and the lack of toughness shone through. Florida finished the game shooting 48% despite beginning 6-for-23.
Jaylen Carey sunk a layup to give Tennessee a 21-19 lead with 6:43 left in the first half. Thomas Haugh answered with a dunk to tie the game — and then the Vols were out of it. The Gators shot 25-for-41 (61%) over the final 27 minutes of play that vaulted them to domination on their home court.
“At some point in time, you got to take a deep look within yourself as coaches, as players, and say, ‘OK, something’s got to change here,’” Barnes said.
