Meeting with the media Monday, Rick Barnes didn’t want to talk about the 11 free throws Tennessee missed against Arkansas. Instead, Barnes wanted to talk about the detailed areas where Tennessee came up short. Most of them on the defensive end of the court.
“We didn’t do the details, the things that you have to do to win games,” Barnes said. “We didn’t have ball pressure, we didn’t follow our scouting report, all those type things. We didn’t do any of it. And when you don’t do it, you don’t deserve to win.”
Defense has been the staple of Rick Barnes’ tenure and an inconsistent force for this year’s Vols. Tennessee has been good on the defensive end of the court, ranking 13th in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency, but it’s not at the same level where the Vols have been in recent years.
It’s not completely unexpected. Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack were major losses that are hard to replace or recreate. The two were great physical defenders but just as important fantastic mentally and with their preparation. They knew what it took to win and the importance of staying locked in to the scouting report.
That’s an area where this Tennessee team with so many new pieces, many of them new to college basketball completely, are still learning.
“Obviously we have a good coaching staff here who prepares us for every and each game,” guard Ethan Burg said. “They give us the full scouting report and they tell us exactly what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to pay more attention to the personnel because some of the things we talk about during scout, we didn’t execute in the game. I think we need to do a better job on that.”
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Defense, which is always an emphasis for Tennessee, seems to be an even bigger one coming out of the loss at Arkansas. Burg said it was a talking point during the Vols’ three-hour film session Sunday and gave an even more definitive message when meeting with the media.
“This program, obviously, has its standards so we have to live up to it,” Burg said. “We have to live up to it. We can’t be not physical, and not tough. We got to have that Tennessee identity that previous teams had. We have a responsibility to do it. We have to.”
Tennessee has shown flashes of being a really good defensive team. They completely shut down Louisville at home last month, holding the Cardinals to their lowest scoring total and least efficient offensive performance of the season.
The Vols may not be as good of a defensive roster as they’ve been in the past, but they still have good defensive pieces. Felix Okpara is one of the best defensive big men in the country. Bishop Boswell has been a defensive glue for Tennessee while Amari Evans’ emergence gives them another reliable, athletic wing defender.
Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team is looking to recreate the defensive showing against Louisville when they host Texas at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center on Tuesday night. Tipoff between the Vols and Longhorns is at 9 p.m. ET. Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes are on the call for ESPN2.
