Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols 76-41 win vs. Alabama State

In their first game as a ranked team, Tennessee basketball dominated the Alabama State Hornets. Here is what we learned from the Volunteers’ victory.

They aced their first test in the top 25 with flying colors. Coming off a huge win over the Washington Huskies, Tennessee basketball avoided a letdown the way the Kentucky Wildcats had one at home against the Evansville Purple Aces by destroying the Alabama State Hornets with a 76-41 dominating victory.

With the win, the Vols moved to 4-0 on the year, while Alabama State fell to 0-4, all of their losses being on the road. After reaching the top 20 in both polls on Monday, this is likely to help them further going into next week.

Rick Barnes’s team has one more game, next Monday against the Chattanooga Mocs, before they head to Florida for the Emerald Coast Classic the day after Thanksgiving. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s win.

1. Defense withstood a slow start.

After shooting under 40 percent from the field and only making one three-pointer through 15 minutes, the Vols were clearly struggling early on offensively. They only had 18 points, and normally, that’s a recipe for falling behind.

However, they were lucky to be ahead 18-15 because of the way they were shutting down the Alabama State offense. UT’s defense stayed consistent, forcing 19 turnovers and holding the Hornets to 28 percent shooting. So as their offense took off, they dominated, and that’s why they won by 35 points.

2. Emerging Big Four led the way.

Yes, there is a big four now for Tennessee basketball. Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden led the way, and both joined the 1,000-point club with 13 and 16 points respectively. Turner continued his successful point guard duties with six assists and two steals.

But Yves Pons has emerged as an elite player as well, and he didn’t miss a beat with his improved efficiency, scoring 11 points on 60 percent shooting. Our fourth member of this group is John Fulkerson, who is becoming a force inside. He hit double-figures again with 10 points on five-of-six shooting.

3. Depth and freshmen get more productive experience.

We left Josiah-Jordan James, the five-star freshman guard, as the one starter outside of that big four. And he is still struggling to score. But he is clearly unselfish and found ways to be effective with 13 rebounds and five assists.

Off the bench, though, things were also impressive, as Davonte Gaines hit both of his attempts. And the freshmen on the bench were great, as Drew Pember and Olivier Nkamhoua each had eight points. So once the offense took off, Barnes was able to get his bench some valuable experience, and it paid off in a big way.