AUBURN, Ala. — Rick Barnes was nearly chipper in the Auburn media room talking about No. 6 Tennessee basketball’s 53-51 loss against the Tigers on Saturday night.
“I should be positive,” Barnes said when asked about his positive mood. “They fought hard all night long.”
There’s certainly truth in that. Tennessee had a horrible offensive first half like they did two and a half weeks prior at Florida. But unlike in Gainesville, Tennessee didn’t let its bad offense spiral the rest of its performance.
The Vols went toe-to-toe with top-ranked Auburn on the road and had a go-ahead triple rattle out in the final seconds. Auburn not only entered the game with the nation’s best offense but it one of the most efficient offenses in a number of seasons.
“We showed a lot of toughness,” Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler said. “We feel like we should have won the game (and) Coach Barnes feels the same way. But he said the same thing I said. We showed a lot of toughness. We pride ourselves on being a really tough team and we didn’t come out on top but we did do that.”
That shouldn’t be undervalued. The fact that Tennessee played the nation’s No. 1 team that closely on the road without playing well offensively is a testament to this team’s floor and how good they can be when everything clicks. But about those offensive issues.
Tennessee’s offense has been inconsistent, particularly on the road in SEC play. The Vols have failed to eclipse a point per possession now in two of four SEC road games and in two of the three losses.
“We struggle at times like every team in the country struggles to score at times. It’s not just (us),” Barnes said. “It’s everybody.”
The 10th-year head coach’s point is accurate. Even after its second poor offensive game in its last six times out, Tennessee ranks 34th in offensive efficiency nationally.
But those struggles are happening a little too often as of late. So what are the common themes in those performances? How can Tennessee find better consistency?
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They’ve shot the ball poorly from the perimeter in two of those games. Chaz Lanier is looking more like another guy than the dude that led the SEC in scoring entering conference play. He’s averaging 11.8 points per game on the road in conference play on 31% shooting from the field.
“He’s going to have to, again, continue to move, cut, get open. And if he doesn’t get some separation, we’re not going to be able to screen for him,” Barnes said.
Lanier accounts for 41% of Tennessee’s made three-pointers this season. When he struggles shooting and scoring from the perimeter then Tennessee likely isn’t going to hit a ton of triples.
And it’s with that in mind when Barnes talks about where Tennessee needs to improve on the offensive end of the court.
“We need it from our frontline,” Barnes said. “We need it because people are going to push us out there. We need our frontline. And, again, I think Felix has worked his butt off. I mean he just does so many good things for us, but we need to get more point production out of the front line.”
Tennessee’s head coach is happy with what Okpara is giving them on the offensive end and his backup Cade Phillips plays 15 minutes per game and isn’t known for his offensive prowess.
That leaves an obvious person that Tennessee needs more offensive production from on the front line: Igor Milicic Jr. The 6-foot-10 versatile forward is averaging just 8.8 points per game in four road SEC games. He played great, pouring 16 points in, at Vanderbilt but has failed to eclipse eight points in any other SEC road game.
In Tennessee’s three losses they’re shooting just 47% on shots at the rim. They need to be more efficient there and Milicic has the juice to become a consistent threat.
Tennessee leaves Auburn with plenty to feel good about in a narrow loss. But questions persist for an offense living and dying by the three.