Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols’ 80-69 win vs. Tennessee Tech
With Josiah-Jordan James and Justin Powell out due to an injury and the flu respectively, Tennessee basketball barely avoided a letdown five days after its huge win over the North Carolina Tar Heels. Rick Barnes’ Vols held off the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 80-69 despite allowing a 7-0 run to fall behind 35-34 at the half.
Trailing 45-42 in the second half, the Vols then went on a 22-6 run to take control of the game and pull out the victory at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. against John Pelphrey’s team. They improved to 4-1 while Tennessee Tech fell to 3-4 on the year.
Up next for Rocky Top is a Tuesday night matchup against the Presbyterian Blue Hose. Tennessee Tech, meanwhile, will host the Chattanooga Mocs that same night. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s victory.
1. Post game was dominant.
Not having James and Powell was naturally going to limit the Vols somewhat on the perimeter. As a result, Barnes adjusted and took advantage of the size advantage in the post. Olivier Nkamhoua was the star. He led the team with 18 points, and 12 of them came in the second half.
Meanwhile, John Fulkerson was his typical self with 14 points. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had a bit of a breakout game too, coming away with 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks off the bench. UT has transitioned to being more of a three-point shooting, but being able to go inside-out is still crucial to Barnes’ system, and they brought that back here.
2. Starting guards didn’t play to their strengths offensively.
Elite point guard play and three-point shooting has been a staple of Tennessee basketball’s backcourt. However, Kennedy Chandler had four turnovers. Victor Bailey Jr., whose job is to score, was 1-of-5 from the field and had just two points.
Shooting in general was an issue for the guards, as they had an off-day from beyond the arc. Santiago Vescovi, the sharpshooter, was just 3-of-10 from beyond the arc, and Zakai Zeigler was 0-of-4 off the bench. With no James or Powell, these players being off was going to create some issues, even against a mediocre team.
3. Guards made up for poor shooting with mostly little things.
This is where you can see the Vols have an experienced team. The backcourt had an off day without its best perimeter defender and one of its best sharpshooters, but it did all the other little things. Zeigler had four assists off the bench. Chandler stepped up defensively with five steals, and Vescovi had three steals.
Meanwhile, they all managed to get to the free throw line, and most importantly, Tennessee basketball was 10-of-10 on the day on free throws. Add in Vescovi’s seven assists and Chandler’s four, and this team made up for its off-day on three-point shots with unselfish play, reliable free throw shooting and aggressive defense to create buckets in transition.