3 Takeaways: No. 1 Tennessee 72, Missouri 60

Photo by Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee beat a Cuonzo Martin-led Missouri Tigers team on Tuesday, 72-60. It was a methodical win to start a 3-game home stand, but the Vols defense came to play. The Tigers led by a single point after 8 minutes of action, before Tennessee jumped out to a 12-point lead in the first half. Still, the Tigers hung around a trailed 37-31 at the break.

Tennessee never surrendered the lead in the second half. Kyle Alexander deserves much credit for the win, as his defensive presence was the highlight of a great defense showing for the Vols. Missouri never got into an offensive rhythm, sputtering to a mere 60 points, after being held to 11 points over the game’s final 7 minutes.

Grant Williams scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting, to go along with 6 rebounds. Admiral Schofield equaled Grant’s 13 points, on 3-5 shooing from downtown. Jordan Bowden logged 12 points and 6 rebounds, while Jordan Bone had 11 points and 7 assists. Lamonté Turner tallied 9 points, making 3-6 shots from the perimeter.

Here are 5 Takeaways from Tennessee’s 12-point win in Cuonzo’s return to Thompson-Boling Arena.

Defense Put on a Show

Tennessee limited the Tigers to 23-65 shooting from the field and 8-27 from 3-point range. The Vols’ defense recorded 5 steals and 9 blocks. Alexander was responsible for 4 of those blocks, as he ate up whatever the Tigers threw his way.

He is clearly one of the x-factors for this team. If Kyle plays well, it can be expected that Tennessee will win. He made a huge impact in this game, and he seemed to enhance the rest of the team’s defensive mentality.

Always Room to Improve

Coach Barnes is a believer that any team in the nation has something they can improve on. If the saying of, “You’re either getting better or getting worse” is true, then it’s important to be learning from each game and focusing on every opponent.

Tennessee was out-rebounded, 36-34 on Tuesday. They also turned the ball over 9 times and allowed the Tigers to grab 14 offensive rebounds. That’s now 27 offensive rebounds allowed by Tennessee in the past 2 games. That will certainly an area that they will look to focus on and improve in the coming games.

Just Keep Winning

This win marks the Vols’ 21st consecutive home win, and their 21st win of the season. With the national spotlight that Tennessee finds themselves in, the atmosphere in Thompson-Boling Arena is fantastic. The fans are confident of a win, yet they are still as loud as ever.

This team has handled sustained success better than many thought they could. It’s very difficult to remain locked in while in the midst of such a long win streak. Still, this squad has shown that they are more than mature enough to handle it and they have no plans of looking back.

Player of the Game: Admiral Schofield