'We just have to finish': Tennessee still looking for late-game execution without Zakai Zeigler

NASHVILLE — What Rick Barnes said his Tennessee team is missing in the closing minutes of games was at the end of the bench Friday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena, sitting on a scooter with a torn ACL. 

Zakai Zeigler was the one in control for the Vols during the crucial possessions late in games. But the sophomore point guard’s season ended when he crumpled to the floor after a baseline drive against Arkansas on February 28.

“We’re still learning how to play without Zakai,” Barnes said.

Without him against Missouri, Tennessee was a bystander as the Tigers closed on a 10-2 run over the final two minutes, winning 79-71 and bouncing the Vols in the conference tournament’s quarterfinal round.

“Someone asked a question about the last four minutes,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference. “We played the entire year with Zakai Zeigler.”

And his team is struggling to adjust to life without Zeigler.

Missouri hit back-to-back 3-point daggers sandwiched around an inbound turnover by Tennessee in the game’s deciding sequence.

Nick Honor hit from three with 1:45 left, giving Missouri a 72-69 lead. After Julian Phillips had his inbound pass to Tyreke Key deflected out of bounds — referees went to the monitor to determine Key touched it last — D’Moi Hodge hit a long three from the wing to make it a six-point game. 

Key scored off an offensive rebound on the next possession, but Missouri matched. Hodge missed a three with 40 seconds left, late in the shot clock, but Kobe Brown got the offensive rebound and got the put back to make it a 77-71 lead with 38 seconds to go.

Missouri scored 49 points in the second half and got a total of 50 from Brown (24) and Hodge (26).

Vols didn’t ‘stay under control’ late in loss to Missouri

“On defense we play with a very high intensity, we attack other teams,” senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua said afterward, diagnosing the defensive lapses. “Sometimes we can get a little overaggressive at times, overrun plays. We need to find a way to stay under control while keeping that same intensity.”

The same struggle was present on the offensive end, too. 

Tennessee went more than four minutes with a made shot from the floor after Phillips gave the Vols a 62-61 lead with 6:40 left. The next bucket wasn’t until a Jahmai Mashack layup at the 2:06 mark, trying the game at 69-69.

Missouri scored 10 of the final 12 points from there.

“I think it goes with knowing our shot selections,” Nkamhoua said. “On the offensive end, taking care of the ball, executing what we need to do, especially coming out of timeouts, playing together.”

In Tennessee’s 79-70 loss at Auburn on Saturday, the Vols didn’t make a shot from the floor over the final 6:13. Santiago Vescovi put his team ahead 63-60, only to watch Auburn close on a 19-6 run. 

“I think all in all,” Mashack, the sophomore wing, said, “we just had to close out the game a little bit better on the defensive end. We gave up, like (Nkamhoua) said, too many drives. (Missouri) hit threes, they’re going to hit threes, but we can’t give up those drive layups and we have to finish the game with a rebound.

“I think we were prepared. I know our coaches did a great job with scouting them. They gave us the keys. But we just have to finish the game as players. We got to grow from it.”

Both Phillips and Josiah-Jordan James after the game were still able to recite the scouting report after the game. Missouri would be switching on the defensive end and Tennessee would be looking to play inside out, getting the post involved before looking for 3-point shots.

“I don’t think we executed offensively how we needed to,” James said, “with getting our bigs involved. Offensively, we knew they were going to play through three guys and we didn’t get the job done against them.”

“Just know what shot we’re trying to get,” Phillips added. “We knew they were switching everything. Just trying to get something inside if we can ,… just knowing what shot we needed to get and getting to it.”

Up Next: Selection Sunday, 6 p.m. ET, CBS

Time is getting short for this Tennessee team. Now the Vols await their NCAA Tournament seeding and matchups on Sunday evening, with a week to search for the answers they need late in games. 

“I think it comes down to a couple defensive breakdowns,” Key said. “And it’s hard to come back from those, especially late in a game like this. We have to get back, get better and fix the mistakes we made.”

If not, the next wave of late-game mistakes will be the last.

“When it’s a one-possession game, you’ve got to think about details,” senior center Uros Plavsic said. “We talked about details this morning. We didn’t really take care of those details in the last two minutes, to close the game. 

“Fortunately, our season is not over yet. But if we go into the NCAA Tournament and do the exact same thing we did tonight, not executing those details and taking care of those details, our season will be over.”