Tennessee basketball is on a brief hiatus this week as they don’t play until next Tuesday when they take on the 11th-ranked Louisville Cardinals at home.
Rick Barnes’ team is already facing adversity this season after starting the year with seven straight wins. The Volunteers basketball team has lost its last three games to Kansas, Syracuse, and Illinois. With this minor break, it's the perfect opportunity for the Vols to make some adjustments so this losing streak doesn't continue.
What do the Vols need to focus on during their week off? Let’s take a look.
1. Defensive communication
During the Illinois game, the Fighting Illini did a great job of getting switches on Tennessee defenders, and this led to plenty of confusion and open looks.
For a team whose strength is supposed to be on the defensive end, they need to do a better job of communicating and fighting through physicality. Make no mistake, the Vols have done a solid job on the defensive end all year, but solid isn't good enough.
Rick Barnes, during the post-game presser, was visibly pissed at the recent play of Tennessee basketball, and defensive lapses are one of the things that need to be improved.
2. Free throw shooting
Tennessee basketball has struggled at the foul stripe as of late. Last Tuesday versus Syracuse, the Vols shot 8/15 from the free-throw line. Tennessee then followed that performance with an 8/18 stat line versus Illinois.
Shooting 16/33, 48%, won't cut it. Overall, Tennessee has been average at the stripe all year. The Vols rank 149th in the nation in free-throw percentage, but the fact that it's gotten this bad recently is alarming. This team struggles enough offensively, they can't be missing out on free points at the charity stripe.
It's time for Rick Barnes to do the old-fashioned make 100 free throws at the end of practice trick.
3. Finishing at the rim
In Rick Barnes ' post-game press conference after the Illinois loss, he mentioned the fact that Tennessee had missed 10 shots at the rim. Illinois continued to make shot after shot down low, while Tennessee missed layup after layup.
Is finishing at the hole easier said than done? It sure is, and that doesn't mean it can't improve. This version of Tennessee basketball is not elite from beyond the arc, so the drives to the bucket have to fall, or you have to convert on your free throws when fouled down low.
Even more importantly, Tennessee is great at rebounding, so they have ample opportunity for put backs but they need to convert. In the end, if the Vols can't learn to finish at the hole it could end up being a long season.