Tennessee basketball time traveled back to the past.
The Vols committed 15 turnovers in their 73-69 loss to Missouri, breaking a streak of three consecutive games where they kept themselves out of double figures in the giveaway department. Tennessee made eight of its 14 free throw attempts, finishing the night converting at a 57% clip from the line.
Tuesday night’s defeat became the first game since a Jan. 3 matchup with Arkansas that the Vols committed double-digit turnovers and shot below 60% from the charity stripe in the same game. Both ended poorly for them.
“It’s been a problem all year,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “It’s probably kept us from really being a contender for the championship, regular season, is the turnovers.
“This is what we looked like a couple months ago, a month and a half ago, or whatever. It’s frustrating because some of them they force and then I can say this too with the turnovers, some of our shot selection wasn’t good either, and, obviously I’m frustrated with our guys because I know we’re better than we played.”
During Tennessee’s four-game winning streak following its loss to Kentucky in Lexington, the Vols pieced together clean contests with the basketball at its most consistent rate all year. Nine turnovers in victories against LSU and Vanderbilt sandwiched a season-best seven giveaway effort against Oklahoma.
The Vols coughed up the basketball eight times in the first half alone against Missouri, eventually leading to a final game-changing tally of 23 points off turnovers for the Tigers.
“I think everybody who played in the game tonight had a turnover,” Barnes said. “I think every guard in the game had a turnover. And that’s a problem.
“Some of the passes that we made on those turnovers, you just can’t make. (Missouri is) too well coached, too good of a team. They’re going to take advantage of it.”
When Tennessee shoots below 60% from the free throw line against Power Four competition this campaign, it is a winless basketball team. Struggles from the stripe improved over much of the month of February, the Vols posting their second highest conversion rate only four games ago in another road atmosphere.
The deadly combo of poor free throw shooting and a high turnover rate contribute to one of Tennessee’s biggest red flags as NCAA Tournament time nears closer. The Vols rank 254th in the nation in committing turnovers with 12.4 per game and sit with even worse national standing with a 70% average success rate at the line.
Tennessee eyes three games remaining on the schedule before postseason play begins, two of them against March Madness hopefuls in Alabama and Vanderbilt. For now, it’s about getting back to the future.
“I love these guys,” Barnes said. “This one’s over and done with, and we got to get ready because the next three for all of us in the league are critical games, for everybody. The next three games decide a lot of things for every team in the league.”
