KNOXVILLE, TN – Second year head coach Dan D’Antoni saw plenty of positives to take away from Thompson-Boling Area Thursday night but the coach was still disappointed that his team let an opportunity to start the season with a win over power conference opponent slip away.
Tennessee went on a furious 33-6 run, spanning 6:50 in the second half, erasing a 16-point Thundering Herd lead and downing Marshall 84-74.
“An ‘L’ is an ‘L’ and we let this one slip away,” said second year head coach Dan D’Antoni on the Thundering Herd IMG Sports Network. “I thought we were very capable of winning this ballgame and just let it go.”
Among the positives D’Antoni took away from the game was the performance of several players making their debut on the court for the Herd. Junior guard Stevie Browning led the Herd with 18 points and senior James Kelly recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out in the second half. Veteran Ryan Taylor also notched a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
“James Kelly played for the first time in a couple years played, and not too bad. We’ve got to get him where he takes care of the ball a little bit better than what he did. He’s going to be a force,” D’Antoni assessed.
With 14:59 to go in the second half Marshall seemed poised to pull of the season opening upset on the road. The Herd built a 16-point advantage thanks to a 13-0 run to start the second half. Austin Loop scored five points and Kelly had four points as Marshall built its lead. Tennessee didn’t score its first bucket of the second half until the 14:36 mark, but once it did the flood gates opened.
The Volunteers turned the 16-point deficit into a 12-point lead with 3:21 to play as Marshall’s offense went stone cold. During that span, Marshall was just 1-for-13 from beyond the arc.
“I told Loop during the game that he started questioning his shot again like he did at the first of the year last year and he bypassed some shots. When we get shots we’ve got to take them,” said D’Antoni.
Despite the loss, D’Antoni insisted his team is playing at much higher level that is started at a year ago.
“It’s going to be a work in progress,” admitted D’Antoni. “There were some good things and a lot of things we’ve got to work on.”
“We came to a Southeastern Conference team on their home floor, who lost to an ACC team and lost by two on their floor, and we had a real chance to in the ballgame. We’re not far away. We’ve just got to get some fundamentals down and details down and we can make people of Marshall proud of us.”
Up next, the Herd will be on the road to face regional rival Morehead State on Tuesday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.