Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols 86-69 loss at Arkansas

In a rematch with the Arkansas Razorbacks, Tennessee basketball lost in Fayetteville. Here are three things we learned about the Volunteers’ loss.

After beating the Arkansas Razorbacks by over 20 in Knoxville, Tennessee basketball could not pull off the sweep. The Hogs got revenge on the Vols, who were coming off a loss at the Auburn Tigers, by a score of 86-69.

Arkansas jumped out to a 16-4 lead early and led 40-27 at halftime. UT was able to cut it to 44-38 in the second half, but the Hogs then pulled away and dominated. With the win, Arkansas improves to 18-10 and 6-9 in the SEC under first-year head coach Eric Musselman.

Meanwhile, Rocky Top fell to 15-13 and 7-8 in the SEC with a home game against the Florida Gators up next on their schedule. With the Vols back to under .500 in the conference, here are three takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s loss.

1. Defense was atrocious.

It was like they quit playing once they made it close in the second half. The Vols only forced seven turnovers on the night against a team that likes to play fast, they committed 24 fouls, and they allowed Arkansas to score 86 points.

Part of that scoring was due to the Hogs shooting 41 percent from the three-point line and 49 percent overall, meaning Rick Barnes’ team did not contest any shots on a serious basis. They did hit 82 percent of free throws, but that’s significant given the Vols’ fouls, as they hit 27 from the line. That was a major problem, and it’s unbecoming of a team Barnes coaches.

2. Shooting efficiency struggled across the board.

While the Hogs figured out ways to score all night, Tennessee basketball was atrocious when it came to shooting. Santiago Vescovi had an off-night, and Josiah-Jordan James is still out of rhythm. Shockingly, Uros Plavsic was the one random person who emerged in this game, as he hit all four shots and scored eight points off the bench. Maybe the big young guy is developing.

Outside of him, though, the team as a whole shot 44 percent from the field and a horrible 23.5 percent from the three-point line. Even worse, though, is that they did something else unbecoming of a Rick Barnes team. They missed 10 free throws. So they weren’t terrible anywhere, but they were below average everywhere.

3. Veterans are finding ways to be effective.

One good thing that came out of this for the Vols, outside of Uros Plavsic finding ways to make an impact, was the veterans figuring out ways to be effective again. Sure, they missed too many free throws, particularly Yves Pons missing four of eight, but they still did lots of nice things. Pons had 12 points and nine rebounds. Meanwhile, John Fulkerson had 15 points and five rebounds.

Even better news for UT, Jordan Bowden still hasn’t lost his rhythm. He led the team with 19 points and hit four-of-10 three-point attempts. Although this was a devastating loss for their NCAA Tournament hopes, these things could help the Vols as the season draws to a close.