
Tennessee basketball is looking to break out of it first losing streak of the season on Saturday afternoon as they host No. 5 Florida in Knoxville.
The Gators handed Tennessee its first loss of the season earlier this month, dominating the Vols’ 73-43 in Gainesville.
How can Tennessee get back on the right side of the scoreboard. Here’s three things I’ll be watching for.
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Will Tennessee Break Out Of Shooting Slump?
Rick Barnes returned to one of his favorite phrases on Friday, saying that if any coach could choose one thing for his team to do each game it would be to make shots.
Tennessee feels that desire heavily at the moment having shot a brutal 15-of-67 (22%) from three-point range in its last two games. The Vols are built to be a good three-point shooting team and have been a solid shooting team for much of the season. But they don’t have enough offensive answers when shots aren’t falling and that has been the case far too often as of late.
The Vols are going to start shooting better at some point but Saturday won’t be easy with Florida boasting a top five three-point defense. If Tennessee is going to avenge its previous loss to Florida they at least need a solid three-point shooting performance.
Tennessee Needs To Match Florida’s Physicality
Senior guard Jahmai Mashack said that the thing that most had to change from Tennessee’s first to its second matchup against Florida was its physicality.
It’s hard to disagree with his assessment. Florida pummeled Tennessee on the glass in the first matchup, earning a 56-37 advantage and a 19-12 advantage on the offensive side. The Vols didn’t have quite as big an issue with turnovers, totaling 12 in the game, but was much better taking care of the ball in the second half. In the first half, Florida turned Tennessee turnovers into easy buckets to help build its lead.
Forcing turnovers has not been a big strength of Florida’s this season so I expect Tennessee to be much better there in the rematch.
Overall, Tennessee simply has to come out the gates with intensity and urgency. They must meet, If not exceed, Florida’s physicality on both end of the court.
Can Tennessee Limit Florida’s Transition Looks?
Florida enters the rematch with the nation’s third most efficient offense. It excels when they’re able to get out into transition and get easy buckets. The Gators have the 25th quickest offensive possessions in the country this season due to their success in transition.
In the first matchup, Tennessee played really good defense against Florida in the half court. It was Florida’s success scoring in transition and on the offensive glass that gave the Vols issues. After a loss where Tennessee wasn’t as sharp as Rick Barnes would like on the defensive side, I predict they’ll be locked in for this one.
The key is for Tennessee to hold strong on the glass, as we’ve noted, and to keep Florida out of transition. If they do those two things they’ll have a great chance to slow down the Gators’ offense.