What pleased Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes most about the Vols’ 89-66 win over Oklahoma Wednesday night? The Vols’ season-low seven turnovers.
Turnovers have been Tennessee’s bugaboo all season. The Vols have failed to fully capitalize on their offensive rebounding dominance because of an inability to consistently take care of the basketball. What can Tennessee’s offense look like when they pair dominance on the offensive glass with low turnover numbers?
“Y’all saw (tonight) what we could be if we take care of the ball,” freshman wing Nate Ament said postgame.
It looked like a consistent offensive performance in which Tennessee scored 45 points in the first half and 44 points in the second half. The Vols’ 1.413 points per possession was their best of SEC play despite shooting poorly from three-point range.
Tennessee posted a turnover rate higher than 18% in each of their first five SEC games. The number was north of 20% in non conference losses against Syracuse and Illinois. Turnovers have been Tennessee’s greatest shortcoming and led to multiple losses.
“I think our guys play really hard defensively,” Barnes said of why turnovers have been such a problem at times this season. “You can’t play at that (speed on offense). … It’s like I’ve told him before, there’s times when you’re on the interstate, that’s defense, where you just got to go, you got to get it done, whatever you need to do. On the offensive end, it’s like driving in the city.”
The Vols are, ever so slowly, starting to take better care of the basketball. Tennessee kept their turnovers in single digits each of their last two games and three of their last five games. Winning seven of its last eight games, Tennessee has turned it over on more than 18% of its possessions just once.
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For Bishop Boswell, whose 24.8% turnover rate is the second highest on the team, its about slowing down offensively. Backup point guards Troy Henderson and Ethan Burg being more reliable is sneakily significant.
But no one is more important than Ja’Kobi Gillespie. The senior point guard is improving in diagnosing opposing defenses and getting Tennessee more organized as the year develops.
“Just slowing down,” Gillespie said. “Trying to read the game more. Knowing what my teammates what and what they don’t. Just reading the game.”
“We have to start every game trying to figure out how they’re going to play ball screens,” Barnes said. “What are they going to do in our against our break? Are they going to be in a drop coverage there? Are they going to do a lot of switching? All that goes on within a game. And really, the answer for Ja’Kobi, that’s where I think he’s gotten better and better, recognizing those type of things. I thought he was aware if they went zone, I thought he had command there.”
Gillespie turned it over three-plus times in seven of 13 non conference games. He’s coughed it up three times just once over the last nine games, and has totaled just five turnovers in Tennessee’s last five times out following an eight assist, one turnover performance against Oklahoma.
Tennessee won the turnover battle 15-7 against Oklahoma. The Vols also rebounded 53.6% of their missed shots. That led to Tennessee attempting 17 more field goals against the Sooners. It is difficult to lose basketball games when taking 17 more shots than your opponents.
The Vols are the best offensive rebounding team in the country. They’re not going to win the turnover battle by eight most nights. But if they break even, their offense has the bones to be really efficient.
