Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols’ 56-53 win vs. No. 13 Maryland

Playing three games at home against lesser-tier foes didn’t result in Tennessee basketball picking up any bad habits, and neither did playing without Jonas Aidoo and Josiah-Jordan James on Sunday. The Vols were still able to score a win over a ranked opponent at a neutral site for the second time this year.

UT, ranked No. 7 in both polls, beat the Maryland Terrapins, ranked No. 13 in both polls, at the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Rick Barnes’ team jumped out to a 34-13 lead in New York City, N.Y., and then held off a furious comeback by UMD in the second half. UT held on to win 56-53 after Jahmir Young missed a three-pointer at the end.

Rocky Top now improves to 9-1 on the year and will next face the Arizona Wildcats on the road in what will be a top 10 matchup Saturday. Maryland falls to 8-2, having lost its second straight, and will next host the UCLA Bruins in a top 25 matchup Wednesday. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s victory.

1. Three-point shooting made the difference, but shooting elsewhere kept it close.

If you want to know how the Vols held onto this game, they shot 7-of-21 from the three-point line while Maryland was an abysmal 2-of-24. Part of that abysmal shooting was due to the defense the Vols played, especially on the perimeter despite no James. Santiago Vescovi had three steals. Offensively, Zakai Zeigler was 2-of-5 from three with 12 points.

On the other hand, the Vols were awful inside the paint and from the free throw line. They were 11-of-21 from the stripe, with Jahmai Mashack missing all three attempts and Zeigler missing his only attempt, and 12-of-45 on two-pointers. UMD was 17-of-22 on free throws, and that’s what kept them in this game late.

2. Rebounding was a huge deal.

In the post, Julian Phillips was 1-of-10, and Olivier Nkamhoua was 3-of-13, which was part of the poor shooting. However, they did what they needed to do on the glass. Phillips came away with 10 rebounds, and Nkamhoua came away with nine. Tobe Awaka had eight off the bench, Vescovi had seven, and Uros Plavsic added five.

As a team, Tennessee basketball outrebouded the Terps 48-40. That may not seem like much, but in a close game like this in which they won the three-point battle but lost the free-throw battle, it was a huge difference. UT had 21 offensive boards to Maryland’s eight. Phillips, Nkamhoua and Awaka all had five each.

3. Defense lost its swagger in the second half.

Everybody knew this would be a defensive game given the make-up of both teams, and that’s exactly what it was. However, while Maryland’s defense was roughly the same and UT’s offense only struggled from the stripe, things changed for the Vols.

Kevin Willard is brilliant at halftime adjustments, and he had the Terps shooting 50 percent from the field in the second half despite their three-point woes. This almost cost Tennessee basketball, and they had to hold on to win. UMD dominated in the paint in the second half, and that’s something the Vols do need to fix.