Tennessee Basketball has not learned its lesson

Once again, Tennessee basketball shoots itself into a loss because of missed threes, and it has been a problem that has plagued the Vols all season.

Tennessee basketball lost to South Carolina in a close one after both teams were unable to pull away and put its opponent away.

The Vols could have had that opportunity if they would have taken my advice a bit more going into the game. One of the keys that I had listed in my keys to the game was don’t shoot the three.

We all know that the Vols have not been able to consistently make threes throughout most of the season, so if they aren’t making the shots, then stop taking them.

Another poor shooting performance from beyond the arch was, once again, a story coming out of Tennessee’s 63-61 loss, a loss where if they would’ve taken a couple less three-point shots, then they could have won the game.

The Vols did improve in shooting the three as they didn’t shoot it as much as they usually do. They were down to only 14 shots on Saturday night but only made four of the 14 shots.

Santiago Vescovi was the only starter to make at least one three, and Jordan Bowden continued his struggle as he shot 0-3 from beyond the arch.

Shooting 28.6% from three at any capacity is going to make it pretty difficult to win a game unless the rest of your offense is on point, and that wasn’t necessarily the case for the Vols either.

Another key that I listed out was to shut down Jermaine Couisnard. The Vols failed to do that as Couisnard finished the night with 13 points, four rebounds, and one assist.

Six games remain in the season, and the Vols will need a great performance in these final few weeks if they want to play in the NCAA tournament. I don’t think their tournament hopes are over yet, but we’re sitting on the edge.

Tennessee has Vanderbilt up next in Knoxville. The two teams will face off this Tuesday at 5:30, and the Vols can’t afford any more losses to non-ranked teams this season.