Tennessee basketball: Vols have reasons for encouragement after Memphis loss

After Tennessee basketball’s ugly home loss to the Memphis Tigers over the weekend, the Volunteers still have reasons for encouragement.

Yes, it’s rough. Losing to your in-state rival to end a 31-game home winning streak is one thing. But Tennessee basketball suffered its second loss of the season because of horrendous shooting. And they lost to a Memphis Tigers team that hasn’t looked great in its wins and is playing without its best player, James Wiseman.

Taking all of that into account, Rick Barnes does have reason to worry about a 51-47 loss. However, maybe it’s worth a reminder that this team is still young and developing a new identity on the fly.

Remember, Tennessee basketball lost four starters from last year, and all of them have inked NBA contracts. Their leader and starting point guard, Lamonte Turner, is transitioning from a combo guard, the toughest transition in basketball, and he’s playing with a shoulder injury. Jordan Bowden, their go-to scorer, was a sixth-man last year, and they have nobody over 6’9″.

Simply put, lots of things are working against them. With Turner banged up, he’s been struggling to shoot the ball well from the outside, and it bottomed out with a one-for-11 performance against Memphis. Because of that injury, the Vols are limited right now in how many people they can afford to see have off-nights.

Unfortunately for them, Bowden and Yves Pons were both off in that game as well, completely limiting their ability from three. In fact, the team as a whole shot four-for-26 from three. Even without Turner, they were four-for-21.

The chances of Rocky Top having a poor shooting night like that against a ranked team while Turner is still banged up are incredibly slim. And even with all of that, they still managed to jump out to a 17-5 lead.

Why? Well, Rick Barnes has done a great job making sure they take care of the little things. This team, even with its offensive issues, still plays great defense, which is why they held Memphis to 51 points. It took care of the basketball with only nine turnovers. And it shot over 70 percent from the free throw line.

Little things like that are why they stay in games even when everything is working against them. It’s why they already have two top 25 wins over the Washington Huskies and VCU Rams and just barely lost to Memphis and the Florida State Seminoles.

You have to figure that Turner will get healthier as the year goes on, and his shot will start to fall. He’s doing everything else right at point guard right now as he gets more comfortable with the transition. Taking those things into account, the little things could make UT deadly.

Meanwhile, as that happens, Tennessee basketball’s freshmen are still likely to continue getting better. Josiah-Jordan James finally had a breakout night against Memphis with 14 points on three-of-six shooting from the three-point line. Rick Barnes should spend more time in December allowing him to take a leadership role while Turner gets fully healthy.

Drew Pember and Olivier Nkamhoua also both had standout performances off the bench for Rocky Top in that game. Simply put, these guys are developing, and by late January, they should be looking a heck of a lot better.

There’s no doubt this Tennessee basketball team doesn’t have what last year’s team had. But the Vols still do have talent and lots of potential. An ugly 51-47 loss to a top 20 team actually only provided reasons for encouragement for this young group of guys.

Freshmen developing, James becoming a star and Turner getting healthy will all help them get better. And in the meantime, they aren’t likely to shoot as poorly as they did against Memphis. So considering all those factors, just staying in that game is reason enough for them to be excited for the future.