LAS VEGAS — In the rolodex of Rick Barnes’ sayings and beliefs is a principle that players should be able to impact the game when they’re struggling on offense and that what happens on the offensive end should not affect the energy and focus on the defensive end.
But the latter is exactly what happened to Tennessee as the Vols let a 12-point second half lead dissipate in its 81-76 loss against Kansas.
“Absolutely,” Barnes said on if the Vols’ let their offense affect their defense. “You start missing shots around the basket and … you look at the stat sheet, too many guys that honestly didn’t do the things that they need to do to help us win.”
Kansas climb back into the game started with a 3:48 Tennessee scoring drought that saw the Jayhawks cut the 12-point difference to four points. And even from there, Tennessee’s offense struggled. The Vols made just six of their final 26 shots and did not find enough consistent success on that end of the court.
After a red-hot first half, Nate Ament struggled offensively in the second half and Kansas cut off the tap on the glass effectively slowing down a great offensive rebounding team.
But what was just as harming is the way Tennessee let the offense affect its defense. Kansas scored 38 points in the game’s final 14 minutes. They made eight of their final 11 shots from the field. When Tennessee’s offense finally woke up in the game’s final minutes, they couldn’t get the stops to earn the win as Kansas scored on six straight possessions.
“We just didn’t come out with the right intensity,” sophomore big man JP Estrella said. “We kind of slipped up but, I mean, it’s a good learning point for us.”
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Maybe playing three games in three days caught up to Tennessee. The Vols struggled to play defense without fouling as Kansas used three and-ones to take control of the game. Ament mentioned postgame that he was upset with himself because of his lack of leadership and defense, pointing out the fatigue in passing.
“Just my defensive intensity and also just my leadership,” Ament said. “You get to those last 12 minutes and you could see we weren’t huddling at free throws, we weren’t talking about the game, we were all in our own worlds being tired.
“I think we just can do a better job of sticking together, finishing games, but also just being tougher.”
The final numbers for Tennessee’s defense in the second half were jarring. Kansas scored 47 points on 54% shooting from the field while scoring 1.424 points per possession.
Amidst the many good takeaways from Tennessee’s three games at Players Era, there is one clear negative takeaway. The Vols are not currently the level of defensive team that they’ve been in the past. They could get there at some point but they’re not there right now.
Bishop Boswell was awesome all week but even with his stout defense, the Vols were shaky all week staying in front of guards off the dribble.
If that continues, Tennessee will have less room for error on both ends of the court. The Vols will be less capable of surviving scoring droughts like they have in years past. But they’ll also need to have a keen attention to detail defensively because the natural defensive talent is lesser than it’s been in recent years.
Neither were at the level they need to be against Kansas as the Vols let a winnable game slip away.
“We really didn’t deserve to win the game,” Barnes said.
