Showing posts with label Tennessee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tennessee. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Postcard From Maui

Someone send me one.

Rather than write a bunch of recaps, I thought I'd write a few sentences about each of the Division I teams that played in the Maui Invitational this week, and what they will take away from the island as they play the rest of their non-conference schedule.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Duke 77, Tennessee 67

[recap] [box score]

New Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin apparently has some of policy that if his guys play hard on defense and on the boards, they'll can more or less do what they want offensively. He might want to re-consider that policy; some of his guys -- most notably Cameron Tatum and Jordan McRae -- really take advantage of that long leash when it comes to shot selection.

Other than that, though, Martin is off to a good start in place of disgraced former coach Bruce Pearl. He's got a bunch of interchangeable parts -- ten Vols scored in the first half against Duke -- who play hard and don't back down. The Vols stuck with Duke for most of the game despite the fact that their best player, Trae Golden, played just a few minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, and the fact that they didn't make a three-pointer in a game for the first time since 1997. And the game would have been even closer had they converted some easy looks underneath. Jeronne Maymon had a particularly tough night in that regard; he led the team with 14 points and 12 rebounds, but made just five of 14 shots.