Tuesday game…
Posted by hoopsknowitall on February 27, 2008
Overall: 132-32 (80.5%)
Vs. Spread: 58-54 (51.8%)
Overall (SEC): 39-14 (73.6%)
Vs. Spread (SEC): 25-27 (48.1%)
East vs. West: East, 19-7
(24-4, 9-4) #18 Vanderbilt [72] vs. (25-3, 11-2) #1 Tennessee [69]: In an infamous “trap” game, coming off an upset of #1 Memphis and achieving the nation’s top ranking ever for a Tennessee team, the Vols dropped a hard-fought game just three days later to an increasingly impressive Vanderbilt team. The Commodores showed more heart and rythm from the outset, despite several Vol leads and just a three-point win. The Vol team, whether because of physical or emotional exhaustion, was simply not up to the very difficult task of putting away the ‘Dores on their own floor. Oddly becoming one of the conference’s better rebounding teams, Tennessee managed to outrebound Vandy 43-36, but were held to just 7-of-26 (26.9%) shooting from behind the arc – a rarity indeed. Otherwise, most categories were even with neither team shooting particularly well and taking care of the ball, although Vandy managed to accumulate a surprising 7 blocks as a team. Shan Foster had his way in every facet of the game, scoring a season-high 32 points on 9-of-13 shooting including an impressive 6-of-9 from behind the arc and grabbing 5 rebounds. He’s now scored 61 points in his last two games. Beal added 17 for the ‘Dores on 4-of-8 shooting. Lofton once again shot poorly but led the Vols by shooting enough, shooting 7-of-18 for 25 points, in addition to an overwhelming 15 shot attempts from long range. Tyler Smith recorded his sixth double-double of the season with a season-high 17 rebounds and 11 points.
Impact [Vanderbilt]: The Commodores are screaming up the NCAA seed selection, potentially vying for a 3 or 4 seed now. The East title is still out of reach for the most part, however.
Impact [Tennessee]: Don’t look now, but Kentucky and Mississippi State are just a game and a half back from the overall conference title. The Vols will need to rebound from this emotional let-down quickly, as they’ll host the Wildcats before travelling to Florida. A NCAA one-seed is still easily within reach, but the overall top seed will require nearly no more losses, including the SEC tournament.
Stat of the Game: 21 total players seeing 2 or more minutes of playing time
yao said
Love the blog. Keep up the good work. It’s been good reading all season long. Would love to see even more opinion.
hoopsknowitall said
Yeah, it’s tough to get both opinion and details across at the same time. Funny, I noticed this comment after I had completed the above breakdown of each team, which will add a boost of opinion into the site. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for the comment!
-K