Rick Barnes explains what went wrong for Vols in the final minute at Vandy
NASHVILLE — No. 6 Tennessee did the one thing it couldn’t do, and that head coach Rick Barnes told his team not to do, on the final possession Wednesday night at Memorial Gymnasium.
After inbounding with 4.8 seconds left, Vanderbilt’s Tyrin Lawrence was left alone in the corner and the junior guard hit the 3-pointer as time expired to lift the Commodores to an improbable 66-65 win over the Vols.
“We said we felt like they would either try to go inside to Liam (Robbins), or they would get it downhill (and drive to the rim),” Barnes said after the loss. “We said we’ve got to make it a tough shot at the rim. But under no circumstances can we give up a 3-point shot. And we did. And they made it, so give them credit for it.”
Vandy’s 10 3-pointers made were most Vols have allowed this season
Lawrence scored a game-high 19 points for Vanderbilt (11-12, 5-6 SEC), which snapped its 11-game losing streak, including six straight losses at home, to Tennessee.
The Vols (19-5, 8-3 SEC) got 14 points from Santiago Vescovi and Tyreke Key. Julian Phillips and Olivier Nkamhoua scored 10 points each and Tobe Awaka had eight points and nine rebounds off the bench.
Nkamhoua put Tennessee up 65-63 with 50 seconds left and Zakai Zeigler corralled a loose ball at midcourt with 22 seconds left after the Vols got a stop on the defensive end. Vanderbilt had five fouls to give.
Phillips took an inbound with 15 seconds near midcourt and had an open look at the rim, but pulled the ball out, forcing another Vanderbilt foul.
“He’s got to do that,” Barnes said of Phillips. “I told him you don’t turn down a 100-percent shot. I mean, you’ve got to do that. He’ll learn from it. But he’s got to do that.
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“With (15) seconds, they’ve got five fouls they’ve got to give, they’re going to have to foul. So we’ve got to go. When you get a wide-open dunk, you’ve got to give it.”
Vescovi missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at the foul line after the Commodores got to the bonus, setting up Vanderbilt’s final possession after Jerry Stackhouse took a timeout with 4.8 seconds left.
Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee vs. Missouri, Saturday, 6 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Vandy, inbounding on its half of the floor, threw first to Robbins near the 3-point line. He handed the ball off to Ezra Manjon, who drove to the rim on the left side of the key. Zeigler was on his hip and Vescovi collapsed, leaving Lawrence open in the corner, to help with defend the rim.
Manjon got to the block and kicked out to Lawrence in the opposite corner for the game-winning three.
“It was a defensive breakdown,” Barnes said of the final possession.
Vanderbilt finished 10-for-25 from the 3-point line, the most threes made against Tennessee’s defense this season. The Vols have college basketball’s best 3-point defense, per KenPom, giving up a completion percentage of just 22.8. Vandy is ranked 258th nationally in 3-point shooting, making 32.4 percent on the season.
“They made some shots,” Barnes said. “They’re capable of doing that. They obviously wanted to play a possession game. Every time down the floor they were eating into the (shot) clock, executing. Jerry’s teams do a great job of doing that. They made some shots.”
