Tennessee basketball enters Tuesday night’s matchup at Kentucky riding a three-game winning streak and looking to avenge its loss to the Wildcats two weeks ago in Knoxville.
Kentucky is down one key starter in Jaxson Robinson and has lost two of its last three games dating back to the first matchup.
Here’s three things I’m watching for ahead of the rivalry matchup.
More From RTI: Tennessee Basketball Center ‘Probable’ For Rivalry Matchup At Kentucky
Tennessee Needs To Avoid A Slow Start
In the first meeting between these two teams, Kentucky jumped out to an early 12-4 lead thanks to four early made three-pointers. Tennessee’s defense was good for most of the game but they had multiple lapses in the game’s opening minutes leading to wide open three-point looks for quality shooters.
Slow starts have been common for Tennessee in SEC play, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Tennessee can have a relatively slow start offensively but they have to be locked in defensively from the jump.
Tennessee could overcome an early deficit but playing on the road after losing two weeks prior, the Vols need to play well in the game’s first five minutes.
Can Tennessee Take Care Of The Basketball?
About the only thing that didn’t go well for Tennessee offensively against Oklahoma was turnovers. The Vols turned it over 19 times in their win in Norman. Turnovers have been an off-and-on issue for Tennessee all season. They can’t afford for it to be Tuesday night in Rupp Arena.
The good news? Kentucky is the worst team at forcing turnovers in the entire SEC. Tennessee had a season-low four turnovers against the Wildcats two weeks ago.
Tennessee needs to take care of the basketball the way they did against the Cats two weeks prior. They’ll almost certainly shoot better than they did in the first meeting though that is a very low bar to clear. If they limit turnovers I like the Vols chances for a good offensive game.
Can Tennessee Be More Efficient Scoring At The Rim
As mentioned a moment ago, Tennessee is going to shoot better than 11-of-45 from three-point range in this game. How much better? That I am unsure of but Tennessee enters the game coming off two of its better shooting performances of the season.
My bigger question is can Tennessee have more success scoring at the rim? That’s been a weakness for this team all season and it was in the first matchup when the Vols scored just 20 points at the rim. Kentucky is a bad two-point defense team and Tennessee should be able to exploit it.
Finishing easy stuff around the rim off of offensive rebounds is one area to watch. The other thing to watch is if Tennessee hits some perimeter shots early, can they stretch Kentucky’s defense out and open up some driving lanes.
