In Tennessee's big win over Alabama on Saturday night, one of the biggest takeaways was how well Rick Barnes schemed up a game plan to defend the number one offensive team in the nation. Tennessee held the Crimson Tide to its lowest total of the season, 73.
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Alabama got off to an early lead; at one point, they were up ten, but the Vols never backed down and kept fighting. The in-game adjustments were key, as Alabama shot a horrendous 33% from the field in the second half.
Rick Barnes’ defensive game plan delivered Tennessee’s win over Alabama
Barnes wanted to force the Crimson Tide into a one-dimensional offense. He said, “Well, again, they’re so good. You get out there like we were, and they can go by you. And they were early. And we still needed a little bit more rim protection. But they’re good. They really shoot a high number at the rim. We just wanted them; if they were going to make a bunch of threes, we wanted it to be at a high volume. " Rick Barnes was okay with giving Alabama threes, but it had to be at a high volume, forcing them to hit tough shots consistently.
Plus, Barnes said, "And we also know that they can get it going at any time and we just didn’t want to give them anything easy. And it’s a very hard team to guard. But we were scrambling around a few times and got back. So again, I just got to give our guys credit for really staying locked into what we were trying to get done as a team from the scouting report standpoint.”
Barnes was right, as the Vols stayed locked in for all 40 minutes. That was a point of emphasis after the collapse against Kentucky, when Tennessee gave up three after three and allowed the Wildcats to score at will over the final 20 minutes. This time, against Alabama, the Vols weren’t going to let that happen.
Sticking to the scouting report is something that Barnes has harped on all season to the media, and he knows that if the Vols can stay disciplined to how the staff schemes up a game, they will be successful. The Vols stayed connected for all 40 minutes, trusting the game plan even when the Crimson Tide threatened to pull away.
If Tennessee can continue to execute defensively with this type of tenacity and discipline, it will have a chance to compete for an SEC regular-season title and maybe something more.