Tennessee Needs Santiago Vescovi More Than Ever

Guard Santiago Vescovi has dealt with doubt recently, but Tennessee needs him to deliver for them to make a run.

Santiago Vescovi's missed free throws were not the sole reason Tennessee fell at the buzzer in consecutive games. They were far from the only reason, as Tennessee as a team did many things to fall in both of those games. However, while Vescovi needs to make the timely free throws, people should be reminded that down the stretch, when this team needs offense, Vescovi will be needed more than ever.

There is no way to sugarcoat it; Vescovi has had a down season compared to last. Much of that could be attributed to his situation, as the primarily spot-up shooter lost his best playmaker in Kennedy Chandler. However, Vescovi was also dealing with a shoulder injury earlier this season where he missed a couple of games. The injury could, without a doubt, impact his numbers.

Vescovi has seen a slight dip in scoring, but maybe more importantly, three-point shooting. For a team that is 232nd in three-point shooting, the highest volume shooter on the team, going from around 40% to 35%, is notable. Credit to Vescovi, though. Shooting in the mid-'30s from three while dealing with a mid-season shoulder injury is far from easy.

Despite all of the hurdles, Vescovi leads the guards/wings on the team in many major offensive categories. He leads in Offensive rating, Effective Field Goal %, and True Shooting %. The Vols playing well on offense is often decided by how well Vescovi shoots the ball.

In the last two games, Vescovi has hit four threes in each and is 8-17 in total. His three-point percentage was hovering around 33% last week and is now slowly creeping back up. Despite the defensive shooting regression, if Vescovi can get going again, Tennessee has a different way to survive games if teams are shooting as Vanderbilt and Missouri did.

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