All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee basketball: 5 keys for Vols in NCAA Tournament

By Caleb Calhoun

ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 10: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the semifinals of the 2018 SEC Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 10, 2018 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 10: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the semifinals of the 2018 SEC Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 10, 2018 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 6
Next
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images /

5. Keep up consistent defense

This has been a theme for Tennessee basketball since the beginning of the season. And there’s no reason to believe that they won’t continue it heading into the NCAA Tournament.

In his third year as head coach, Rick Barnes is finally seeing the benefits of the system he established. That’s a system that stresses tempo and aggression. As a result, the offense might not always be there. But the defense will be.

Barnes and the Vols closed out their winning streak to the regular season giving up only 59 points per game. They were able to beat the Mississippi State Bulldogs in their first SEC Tournament game despite a terrible shooting night thanks to that dominant defense.

However, they gave up 77 points to the Kentucky Wildcats in the championship game. It’s not that the defense was bad in that outing. It just wasn’t as dominant as it had been in previous games.

Now, with a few days rest to get ready to go again, the Vols need to turn their aggressive defense back on for March Madness. This involves staying aggressive on the perimeter and banging players down low. They want to force turnovers and contest every single shot. When their offense goes in a funk, their defense has been able to bail them out.

The Vols wear teams down with their aggression, and it allows them to withstand hot shooting periods from other teams. They need to keep that up all tournament. But they will also need to complement it with something else. We go to that next.

Home/Vols Basketball