NASHVILLE, Tennessee— Olivier Nkamhoua was going back and forth in the bowels of the Memorial Gymnasium.
Nkamhoua should have been one of the heroes of the Vols, hitting a jumper with 50 seconds left. After the Vols had another stoppage, it looked like Tennessee would pull him out again to extend their winning streak over rival Vanderbilt to a 12-game series.
A three-point deficit turned late into a two-point lead and the Vols owned the ball, with Vanderbilt having to foul five to send Tennessee to the free throw line. This is where the trouble started.
Tennessee’s Julian Phillips opened wide on a field-goal cut and had an open dunk that would have given the Vols a four-point lead with 12 seconds left.
“Come on, he has to do this,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “I told him that we did not refuse a blow 100%. I mean, you have to do this. He will learn from it. But he has to do this. With 18 seconds, they have five faults to give, they will have to commit a fault. So we have to go. When you get a wide open dunk, you have to give it.
A bad decision? Of course. But a Tennessee should still have easily overcome.
Vanderbilt fouled Phillips after letting the dunk pass with 10 seconds left, fifth on the Commodores in the half.
Tennessee survived another scare when Barnes bailed out Tyreke Key with a timeout as the senior nearly took a five-second call.
The Vols eventually fed the ball to Santiago Vescovi, one of two players they would like to shoot crucial free throws. But Vescovi missed the start of the bonus, giving Vanderbilt another chance after taking a timeout with four seconds left.
More from RTI: Everything Rick Barnes said after Tennessee fell to Vanderbilt
Barnes praised Jerry Stackhouse’s ability to make Vanderbilt look good for four years. This came to fruition when Stackhouse drew a beauty. Vanderbilt guard Ezra Manyon found a wide-open Tyrin Lawrence in the corner. The junior guard barely made the shot, but he got the shot, and he skillfully fell through the net to give the Commodores their first win over Tennessee since 2017.
Tennessee’s eighth-year head coach didn’t say more than it was “a defensive breakdown.” Tyreke Key called it a “team breakup”.
These are kind remarks that do not throw the responsible party under the bus. The responsible party was Vescovi who left Lawrence on his own to try and help deny a potential shot from Robbins to the rim.
“We said we had to make it a tough shot on the rim,” Barnes said of the game. did, so give them credit for it.
Missing the start of the bonus to keep Vanderbilt alive is hard enough. The mental breakdown of leaving a – albeit bad – shooter wide open in the corner is inexcusable for a senior with an abundance of late-game experience.
Tennessee’s three costly mistakes led to Vanderbilt’s small student section spilling onto the court and Nkamhoua pounding the bowels of Memorial Gymnasium after a heartbreaking loss.
The loss — Tennessee’s second in three games — puts the Vols at a crossroads in the season. Seasons aren’t made or broken by early February games, but the Vols are heading in the wrong direction with their schedule poised to heat up over time.
After a Saturday home game with Missouri, Tennessee takes on No. 3 Alabama, then travels to Rupp Arena and College Station for some tough conference play.
Life isn’t going to get any easier for Tennessee and it will be a long bus ride to Knoxville on Wednesday night. Where the Flights go from here is the question. But there is no doubt that they let one off in Vanderbilt.
