Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols’ 86-44 win vs. Presbyterian

Well it didn’t take long for Rick Barnes to get to his players. After earning his criticism in an ugly win against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles last Friday, Tennessee basketball rebounded with a dominating 86-44 win over the Presbyterian Blue Hose. The win improves the Vols to 5-1 on the year while Presbyterian falls to 5-3, all three losses coming on the road to elite programs.

Early on, it looked like the Vols would struggle again, and Presbyterian did take a 10-8 lead with just over 14 minutes to go in the first half. Rocky Top then went on a 15-0 run though to take control of the game and dominated the rest of the way.

Ranked No. 13 in the AP Poll and No. 15 in the Coaches Poll, Tennessee basketball next has a couple of Power Five games away from home, visiting the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday and facing the Texas Tech Red Raiders next Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic in New York. Presbyterian will next host the Bob Jones Bruins Saturday. Here are three things we learned from UT’s victory.

1. Defense made plays in every way.

Holding a team to 44 points that shot 41.2 percent from three-point range is a bit of an oxymoron. However, Presbyterian went 38.2 percent from the field overall. Why? UT was a blocks machine. Olivier Nkamhoua had two on the night, Justin Powell had one in his return, Kennedy Chandler had one. Even Brock Jancek got in on the fun with two off the bench, including this epic rundown.

Beyond the six blocks, though, the steals was the story. Chandler tied a school record with seven steals on the night, which set him up for easy transition buckets en route to 15 points. The team had 13 steals overall and forced 25 turnovers. That tells the story. By the way, they did this all still without Josiah-Jordan James, their best perimeter defender.

2. Three-point shooting returned.

Welcome back Justin Powell. He missed last Friday’s game against Tennessee Tech. In his return, not only did he have a block, but he hit all five three-point attempts off the bench en route to 15 points. Meanwhile, Victor Bailey Jr. finally had his breakout game, hitting four of his eight three-point attempts en route to 14 points.

Overall, Tennessee basketball hit 14-of-27 three-pointers. Zeigler hit two, and Quentin Diboundje hit one. This is why the post-game wasn’t as dominant. Nkamhoua, John Fulkerson and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield were all efficient but scored single digits. They let the three-point shooting and the points in transition take the lead.

3. Unselfish play broke this game open.

Santiago Vescovi wasn’t part of the elite three-point shooting, as he had an off-night, hitting just one of his five attempts. He also wasn’t part of the dominant defense, getting just one steal. Still, he finished with 13 points. How did this happen? Well, the ball movement was amazing by the Vols’ offense all night.

Chandler led the way with seven assists, but Vescovi and Fulkerson each had four as well. Tennessee basketball had 26 assists and only eight turnovers on the night. That was helped by the elite shooting, but when you combine it with aggressive defense, you get this blowout.