Tennessee basketball improved to 3-0 on Wednesday night, knocking off North Florida 99-66 in Knoxville. The Vols flirted with triple digits on a night that they shot just 30% from three-point range. A major reason why was Tennessee’s success on the offensive glass.
The Vols grabbed 20 offensive rebounds and turned it into 27 points. Tennessee rebounded 58.8% of its missed shots on its way to scoring 1.356 points per possession against the Ospreys.
“They’re obviously one of the elite offensive rebounding teams in the country,” North Florida head coach Bobby Kennen said postgame. “I think when you look at that, I think you talk about Tennessee, Houston and Florida when it comes to that.”
Through three games this season, Tennessee leads the nation in offensive rebounding percentage. The Vols are rebounding 53.1% of their misses this season coming in just above Virginia (52.8%) and Auburn (49.6%).
The level of competition certainly plays a role. As Rick Barnes noted following the North Florida game, Tennessee’s size has certainly played a role in the overwhelming success early this season. While the Vols’ offensive rebounding percentage will certainly go down, this still projects as a stout offensive rebounding team.
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Tennessee is going to play two bigs almost all season while the 6-foot-10 Nate Ament plays an abundance of minutes at the three-spot this season.
“They have a tremendous amount of length and athleticism, and they also have a lot of depth,” Kennen said. “They just keep bringing bodies. They keep bringing bodies at you. And I think not only is it a problem for the North Florida’s of the world. I think it’s going to be a problem for the SEC.”
JP Estrella’s 32.6 offensive rebound percentage is the highest of any player in the country. Jaylen Carey’s 28% rate is also elite while Cade Phillips’ 14.1% rate and Nate Ament’s 11.4% rate are both strong. Tennessee can get more from Felix Okpara whose 8.9% offensive rebound rate is strong but not elite.
While Tennessee has been elite on the offensive glass this season, there’s room to grow on the defensive glass. The Vols have not been bad there, ranking 80th nationally, but have been a bit sloppy at times this season including in the slow start against North Florida.
“He’s done a great job being an offensive rebounder,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said of Estrella. “He’s going to have to take that to the defensive end even more. He’s certainly capable of doing that every night.”
Tennessee faces Rice and Tennessee State before it heads to Las Vegas to face Rutgers, Houston and a much larger challenge on the glass.
