Talking to his team in the locker room following its 69-65 victory over Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes made a bold statement.
“I’m going to tell you what, you guys are tough,” Barnes said. “Tough man. Our perimeter defense, there’s not a better team in the country when you all guard that ball like y’all did. It’s unbelievable.”
A slightly over the top statement to try and both praise and drive a point home to his team? Certainly. But there’s truth in the hyperbole. The Vols’ defense was stellar against Vanderbilt and a major reason they were able to win the game. It’s a defense that is trending in the right direction as February winds down.
The Vols’ two wins last week saw them hold Vanderbilt to 65 points and Oklahoma to 64 points. Vanderbilt ranks in the top 15 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency while Oklahoma ranks in the top 30 and had been one of the nation’s five most efficient offenses in the five games leading into its loss in Knoxville.
Vanderbilt’s 65 points was its second fewest of the season on its third worst offensive efficiency numbers of the season. And it wasn’t some fluke, poor shooting performance. Vanderbilt shot an impressive nine-for-23 from three-point range including a heavily contested makes from both Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles.
The Commodores’ offense rolled for 15 minutes, scoring 32 points and jumping out to a seven-point lead. But Tennessee turned up the intensity late in the first half and kept it going in the second half, holding the Commodores to 33 points in the game’s final 25 minutes.
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“We changed our ball screen coverage,” Tennessee freshman DeWayne Brown said. “I feel like that worked pretty well for us. Really, it came down to people guarding their man. … At the end of the day, it just came down to guarding your guy and the effort plays. I feel like that’s why we were able to come out with it.”
The change in ball screen coverage saw less hard hedges, that Vanderbilt was effectively slipping to create an advantage, with more drop coverage. That’s a coverage Tennessee rarely goes to but it worked well against against the Commodores.
Oklahoma’s 66 points was its second fewest all season and its second worst offensive efficiency performance of SEC play. The Sooners scored just seven second chance points and turned the ball over 15 times which led to a poor offensive performance despite shooting 46% from the field and 38% from three-point range.
Tennessee’s defense performing the way it performed against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma highlights its growth this season in a lot of ways. Earlier this season, the Vols have struggled to slow down opposing teams with multiple talented guards because they simply could not stay in front of the ball.
But the steady improvement of Bishop Boswell, Amari Evans and most recently Ethan Burg has given the Vols more reliable options.
Defense is the staple of Rick Barnes’ program. For much of the season, they have not played up to that high standard. But Tennessee is starting to find that consistency as of late and its leading to them earning crucial wins.
