Transfers Guide Tennessee In Exhibition Win
We hear the line every season to not put too much stock into results from exhibitions or secret scrimmages. While the majority of the time it is true that these teams are not close to their final form, there are still things that can impress people.
What Tennessee did on Sunday was one of those things. The Vols went into the Breslin Center and took down Michigan State 89-88 without their 2 preseason All-Conference guards in Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi. Stepping up in their absence were the two transfers in Dalton Knecht and Jordan Gainey. The two led the team in scoring with 28 and 20, respectively.
For those that didn't see it, the end of the game was wild. Tennessee led by 3 with 11 seconds to play and turned it over on the inbounds. While the Vols were in scramble mode, A.J. Hoggard buried a 3 to tie the game. On the ensuing possession, Jordan Gainey was fouled 30 feet from the basket and proceeded to miss the first free throw and make the second. Jonas Aidoo stole the long inbounds pass to cap off a win for Tennessee in which Michigan State never led.
Knecht and Gainey were both impressive in their own right, but Gainey was definitely the more surprising of the two. Knecht's ability to get to the rim, knock down perimeter shots and rebound the basketball were things that people who watched him at Northern Colorado knew he could do. However, what was shocking about Knecht's game is he showed more athleticism than maybe we realized.
Jordan Gainey was surprising because of how quickly he translated from the Big South to the level of a team like Michigan State. Gainey hit 4 threes with a couple of them being heavily contested. When Zeigler gets back, the half-court offense will be much better because of the spacing Gainey gives them.
Overall, Tennessee seems to be a much better three-point shooting team than they were a year ago. It's not just the transfers either. Jonas Aidoo, Jahmai Mashack and Freddie Dilione all hit threes. Aidoo hit 5 last year and Mashack hit 11 and neither will shoot them at a high volume again this year, but if those 3 guys can be threats from out there, that could be a new wrinkle in the offense.
On the concerning side, missed free throws and turnovers were what nearly cost Tennessee the game. The Vols turned it over 20 times and finished 26-36 from the line, but were 5-11 in the first half. They hit a bunch at the end of the game, but could've been in firm control if not for a bad first half from the charity stripe.
In October, we knew the basketball wasn't going to be clean. In fact, we knew that turnovers were going to be a problem, but that doesn't mean it's something they don't need to work on. In total, Tennessee and Michigan State had 37 turnovers in the game. On the Vols side, that probably somewhat fixes itself when Zeigler and Vescovi come back. Jordan Gainey had 6 of those 20 turnovers for Tennessee, but he also had a 27.2 usage rate. That's way higher than what will be normal for him and last year would've been among the top 200 in college basketball.
Tennessee will officially open their regular season in 8 days at home against Tennessee Tech. We don't yet know the status of Zeigler and Vescovi for those games, but either way, Tennessee should be able to take care of business in that one. There's no doubt that today was encouraging and a confidence builder for everyone in that program for what should be a great season.
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