Tennessee Basketball: Five Takeaways from Vols First Exhibition Win

Oct 21, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes speaks with the media during SEC Tipoff held at Ballantyne Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

1. Depth May Be a Problem

If you still need proof that this Tennessee Vols men’s basketball team is almost exactly the same as Bruce Pearl’s team in 2005-2006, the lack of depth should be the final point.

The Vols were only able to run eight guys on a consistent basis Friday night, and honestly, only six were able to log significant minutes with only 10 seeing the court the whole night despite the dominance of the Vols in the game.

It showed in the second half as they were outscored by eight by Alabama-Huntsville. Outside of Armani Moore and Kevin Punter, the Vols do not have too much consistency.

Fortunately, Robert Hubbs III finally showed up, and if he can drop 15 for the year, that should be enough as long as Punter and Moore do their jobs.

Derek Reese is a defensive presence, which showed last night, but his offense has to get better.

Overall, Tennessee looks like it will only be able to go seven-deep this year. That could be enough to have a solid basketball team if those first seven are good.

And they look like they are.

But it will catch up with them at the end of the year. This is where Rick Barnes’s recruiting will be incredibly important for the sake of the program’s future.