ATLANTA, Ga. — Hot topic: After Tennessee’s season opening win over UNC Asheville, coach Rick Barnes challenged his team to rebound the ball better.
The Vols answered that challenge against Georgia Tech on Monday night.
Despite losing to the Yellow Jackets 69-67, Tennessee won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding a much more physical Georgia Tech team 53-47.
“We know that we’re a small team,” senior forward Armani Moore said. “We’re going to have to go to the glass… I feel like there are certain parts of our game that we have to keep working on, though, and rebounding is one of them.”
Georgia Tech held a size advantage down low, as three of their starters were 6-foot-5 or taller. Senior Derek Reese was the only Vols starter taller than 6-foot-4.
The Vols (1-1) crashed the boards particularly hard on the offensive end, pulling down 24 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second chance points.
It wasn’t just the bigs that were pulling down rebounds, as Tennessee’s guards accounted for 19 of the team’s 53 total rebounds. Sophomore Detrick Mostella led the charge for the Vols guards with six rebounds, two of which came on the offensive end of the floor.
Neither junior Robert Hubbs nor senior Kevin Punter were able to pull down a rebound against UNC Asheville, something Barnes was quick to point out after the game. The two took the criticism to heart, as Hubbs had five rebounds and Punter added four against the Yellow Jackets (2-0).
“That’s what we talked about,” Barnes said of the offensive rebounds. “We know that this is a program that prides itself on that. We came in and we won the battle on the boards and we out-scored them in the paint.”
Spotlight: For the second consecutive game, Tennessee used a spark off the bench to get the offense going. Against the Yellow Jackets that spark was Detrick Mostella.
The sophomore scored nine points, eight of which came in the first half. He was 2-of-4 from three-point range and led the team in rebounding at the break.
Mostella started the Vols’ exhibition game against Alabama-Huntsville, but lost that spot to Hubbs in the season-opener. He failed to score against UNC Asheville, but responded when his team needed him to step up against the Yellow Jackets.
“We have some other guys that I think we can start to see them getting better,” Barnes said. “They’re starting to do some things and understand their role.”
The other guys: Georgia Tech relied on forward Nick Jacobs for scoring throughout the night. He scored 12 points in the Yellow Jackets’ season-opening win over Cornell, and it didn’t take him long to pass that total against Tennessee.
He finished the game with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, but did most of his damage before the break. He had 17 points and missed just three shots in the first half, using his quickness to provide a matchup problem for Tennessee’s big men. He also added nine rebounds.
Outside the box score: Tennessee has now lost ten consecutive non-conference road games to division one teams, dating back to 2009. Its last such win came on Dec. 31, 2009 as the Vols beat Memphis on the road.
By the numbers:
9: Tennessee had just nine assists on 27 made field goals, while turning the ball over 16 times
44: The Vols out-scored their opponent in the paint for the second consecutive game, as Tennessee had 44 points down low to Georgia Tech’s 36, despite the Yellow Jacket’s size advantage.
12: Georgia Tech blocked 12 Tennessee shots throughout the game, while the Vols blocked just four Yellow Jacket shots.
