As the game turned: The sequence went by in a blur.
After trailing the majority of the second half by double digits, Tennessee had trimmed the Aggies’ lead to five with 1:53 remaining. The fans at Thompson-Boling Arena, who had weathered Tennessee’s ineptitude at the beginning of the second half, were on their feet, imploring the Volunteers to get a defensive stop.
Tennessee got the stop when Peyton Allen’s 3-point attempt went sailing into the hands of Armani Moore.
The crowd roared. Moore passed the ball on an outlet to Kevin Punter. Punter had a lane to the basket.
For the briefest of moments, every one in attendance at Thompson-Boling Arena thought the contest between the Vols and the Aggies was about to be a one-possession game for the first time since the 18:55 mark of the second half. After trailing, 45-28, midway through the second half, the Vols were about to place themselves in a position to win late.
It was not meant to be for Tennessee.
Punter drove hard to the basket, placed the ball off the glass, and then watched the ball roll off the rim.
Texas A&M forward Jalen Jones grabbed the rebound off the missed layup and a Tennessee foul on the other end earned Jordan Green a trip to the foul line.
“I mean, yeah I was surprised that rolled off,” Punter said. “I put it up there like a I was supposed to, but I mean it happens. It just didn’t go in.”
The crowd was surprised too, if not stunned.
“Goaltend,” one disgruntled fan yelled after the sequence had transpired.
He may not have been incorrect.
Replay showed that an Aggie player might have touched the ball while the ball was still in the cylinder, thus qualifying as a goaltend.
The potential goaltend, however, was difficult to notice during real time.
“I didn’t see a goaltend,” Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall said. “I thought (Punter) had a good look, he was a little off balance. Obviously, that bucket would have cut it to three with about minute to go if I am not mistaken. It just didn’t go in.”
The missed layup would prove to be Tennessee’s last push, as the Aggies would hit five of six from the foul line in the final minute to seal a, 67-61, victory.
Hot Topic: For the third consecutive game, Tennessee’s leading scorer and team leader scored below his scoring average.
While he finished the game with 12 points, Richardson was a cool 5-of-13 from the field and scored half of his points in the final two minutes.
Richardson didn’t hit his first field goal until 5:41 remained in the first half and entered halftime with only two points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Richardson is averaging almost 35 minutes a game and it is plausible to believe the quantity of minutes may be wearing on the senior guard.
Tyndall, however, wasn’t ready to accept fatigue as an explanation for Richardson’s three-game slump.
“We gave him Wednesday off, and Thursday we did very, very little on the floor but walk through,” Tyndall said. “Yesterday we went about a hour and 10 minutes so they should have been really fresh. I just think the deeper you get into league play, the more — for lack of a better term — your warts are exposed.
Coaches take away your strengths. They try to make you play to your weaknesses or deficiencies that you have.
“I think (teams) are playing Josh different ways, trying to keep him off balance.”
Richardson claimed that he considers the attention he receives from defenders as an the opportunity to find open players.
“If multiple guys start coming at me, I am going to keep finding my teammates,” Richardson said.
Spotlight: Kevin Punter stepped up in the place of the struggling Richardson in Saturday’s loss to the Aggies.
The Brooklyn, New York native scored 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He was 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.
While his missed layup cost the Vols an opportunity to get within one possession, his five triples prevented the Aggies from taking control of the game.
His first triple ended a 10-0 run by the Aggies and cut the deficit to 19-14. His second 3-pointer came a minute later and instilled life into the Thompson-Boling arena crowd after he brought the Vols within two.
His next two triples ended spurts from the Aggies in the second half.
“(Punter) did a good job of stepping up and knocking down shots,” Richardson said. “He was getting a lot of looks, and he was knocking it down.”
The other guys: Jalen Jones led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
Say Something: Punter on the team maybe being complacent after winning three straight games: “I mean for us, we are just coming out and trying to win basketball games. The whole ‘complacent’ thing, we don’t really think about that. We just come in, punch the clock, and do the best we can.”
Outside the Boxscore: The, 67-61, loss to the Aggies drops Tennessee’s home record to 1-2 in SEC play
By the Numbers:
56: Of Tennessee’s 52 shot attempts, 56 percent them came from beyond the arc.
34: Three players (Moore, Punter and Richardson) played over 34 minutes in the loss to Texas A&M.
7: Devon Baulkman was the only player to score off the bench for the Vols, scoring seven points in the first half.
