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Tennessee Basketball: Five Takeaways from Vols First Exhibition Win

By Caleb Calhoun

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Oct 10, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head basketball coach Rick Barnes before the game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

3. The Vols Can Shoot Free Throws

This would be a pathetic thing to say for an NBA team, and quite honestly, saying this shows how pathetic the state of men’s college basketball is at this point.

However, we know that in college basketball, not being a complete abomination from the free throw line is a big advantage over lots of other teams in the sport.

The Vols finished the day 21 of 26 from the line, better than 80 percent. They were helped out by Kevin Punter’s 12 of 15 numbers at the line, but even outside of him, they went nine of 11, which is very impressive.

The best thing about free throw shooting is that you do not have to gauge the opponent when it happens.

Free throw shooting is all about what the shooter does and has nothing to do with the defense.

So to shoot above 80 percent was great. Last year, the Vols shot 69 percent from the free throw line, and under Cuonzo Martin, they never shot better than 72 percent from the line.

In fact, even dating back to the Bruce Pearl years, they have only shot better than 70 percent three times.

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In addition to Punter, Devon Baulkman was two of two from the free throw line, Kyle Alexander was also two of two from the line, and Armani Moore was an impressive five of six from the line.

And speaking of Armani Moore, that brings us to our next takeaway from Tennessee’s 96-83 victory Friday night.

Next: #2: Armani Moore Displayed His Versatility

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