The Vols got handed their second loss of the season last night at Rupp Arena. Kentucky played a good hard fought game, and capitalized on an off night for the Vols to pull the upset. That may be the one thing that amazes me the most about this loss, we didn’t have one player have a good game, and we still nearly pulled it out at the end. Its kind of hard for me to get mad at a loss like this, because at least now we have improved to the point that it is possible to be upset by Kentucky at their place.

However, there are a couple of things that have to concern Vols fans about the way we played last night. First and foremost is our inability to stop a good low post player. Patrick Patterson was a beast in the paint all night, and we couldn’t do much to stop him. Duke Crews will definitely help when he comes back, but that will probably be our biggest weakness all year. Another thing that is of some concern is our team free throw percentage. We weren’t that bad last night but Kentucky definitely had the advantage, and  that could hurt us down the road.

One positive to take away from the game last night was the way Chris Lofton played in the first half. At one point during the game he actually dribbled the ball!! And best of all, he was heading in the general direction of the basket!! He still has not found his stroke from last season, but he definitely showed signs of getting his mojo back. However, the offense didn’t seem to click when he was the go to guy in the first half. In my opinion, we are at our best when Tyler Smith has the ball in his hands because he has the ability to do it all. As of late he has cooled off quite a bit, but if we can get Tyler and Lofton going at the same time we could really put up some points.

The biggest thing to remember here is that this is not like football, its not the end of the world when you lose a game. We’re still in a good position to pick a number one seed, and we should still win the SEC. Pearl will figure out high to cover up our weaknesses, and Lofton will get back to being he used to be.

“Sure are getting heavy Chris, anytime your ready to takeover just let us know”