NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A poor shooting effort doomed the Vols in their 78-66 loss to Colorado inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Sunday afternoon.
Tennessee shot 16-for-63 from the floor and 5-for-17 from three-point range in the loss, and the struggles caught up to the Vols in the second half, when Colorado took the lead and began to pull away.
"If we think we're good enough to just go out and play, today proved that we're not," head coach Rick Barnes said following the loss. "Whether we're making threes or not, we should be able to play better basketball than we did."
Less than ten minutes into the contest, starting center Uros Plavsic turned his ankle coming down from a rebound and had to be helped off the court. Barnes said at halftime that Plavsic would not return to the game, and he was later spotted in a walking boot on the Tennessee bench.
Barnes also singled out starting guard Zakai Zeigler at the team's post-game press conference. Zeigler shot 4-for-12 and turned the ball over twice. The head coach has not been happy with Zeigler's performance to start the season.
"He has had two games where he hasn't made shots early, and I think he's let it affect him," Barnes said. "Tonight he was totally out of control, to the point that I've already told him he's not starting [anymore], because him starting the game hasn't worked very well."
The loss against Colorado was Tennessee's first to the Buffaloes in program history. The Vols will return home to Thompson-Boling Arena to host Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
