Tennessee basketball: Ole Miss exposed one major concern about Vols

It’s already concerning that Tennessee basketball needed overtime to beat the Ole Miss Rebels at home while Ole Miss was without its best player. However, that can usually be excused when going up against Kermit Davis’ complex 1-3-1 zone. This year, though, UT should have finally been able to avoid that issue.

Early signs showed Rick Barnes’ team finally has the three-point shooting it needs to unleash an arsenal attack from beyond the arc against such zone defense. Santiago Vescovi speaks for himself, but Victor Bailey Jr. and Justin Powell are also threats. Olivier Nkamhoua, Zakai Zeigler and Kennedy Chandler are second-tier threats, and Josiah-Jordan James can also deliver.

With all of those guys, you would think that this year, Tennessee basketball could punish a team that plays a 1-3-1. However, Wednesday night, they shot below 30 percent from three, and until Vescovi hit three of his final four three, they were below 20 percent. So what happened?

Well, one issue that has been brought up all year about the Vols wasn’t a fluke. Most of their three-point shooters, inexplicably, are better with a hand in their face then when they’re wide open. It’s similar to how some quarterbacks are better on the rollout.

This isn’t uncommon. Chris Lofton was a better shooter with a hand in his face. However, what stands out here is the fact that most of these guys, Powell and Bailey in particular, oddly have a significant drop-off from the outside when somebody is on them.

That’s a concern. Look, Nkamhoua and John Fulkerson should have been more dominant down low for most of that game. However, they are solid players, and Fulkerson uses his finesse and experience to outplay opponents. They can’t dominate such schematic disadvantages, though.

Given the fact that those players can’t dominate such a disadvantage and that slashers like Kennedy Chandler can’t carve up Davis’ zone, their best chance is defense and shooting from outside. They did play defense in this game, forcing 27 turnovers, but this should have been one of their historic three-point shooting nights. It wasn’t.

Even if they were having an off-night shooting, which is common, Ole Miss’ style should’ve allowed them to go above average from beyond the arc. However, they have now laid the blueprint for the best way to beat Tennessee basketball when they are fully healthy.

If you stick with a zone, Chandler won’t be able to break it, and the shooting won’t be there to pull them out of it. Fulkerson and Nkamhoua just aren’t physical enough to take advantage of that zone with offensive rebounds down low either, so it creates a huge problem.

Rick Barnes will obviously have to work on some solution to this issue. Tennessee basketball has plenty of elite shooters on their team, but if they don’t gain any advantage by being unguarded, then their success will be totally dependent on if they are off or on from outside on any night. That’s not what you expect from a team with Final Four aspirations.