The poor offensive numbers were jarring in Tennessee basketball’s 73-43 loss at No. 8 Florida on Tuesday night.
Tennessee’s 43 points were its least of the Rick Barnes’ era as was its 21% shooting from the field. The Vols entered the night averaging 1.19 points per possession and they totaled just .683 against the Gators.
But as bad as the Vols’ offensive performance was, it wasn’t the only concerning part of Tennessee’s performance.
For that, you have to start with how Tennessee responded to its poor offensive start when they didn’t score in the first six minutes and missed its first nine shots.
“They weren’t going in,” Barnes said. “Then I thought we lost our poise. I thought we had the wrong guys shooting the ball at the wrong time. … I thought that we, again, got rushed, kind of became disconnected on the offensive end.”
The most discouraging part for Tennessee is the way its bad offensive start affected them the rest of the year. Under Barnes, the Vols have been great at gritting through poor shooting performances by remaining locked into the game on the defensive end.
That ability to remain poised has allowed Tennessee to win, or at least be competitive, in games where it’s laid eggs on the offensive end.
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“You also look at your own players and like, ‘Why are we doing things that we know we’re not supposed to do?’” Barnes said. “And I think it goes back sometimes to when guys struggle offensively, especially, when they’re missing shots that they think they should make, they let it carry to that end (on defense). They lose their concentration and good teams like Florida take advantage of it.
After starting slow offensively, Tennessee became tentative on that end of the court. That led to worse shot selection, more turnovers and more opportunities for Florida to score in transition before Tennessee set its defense.
Maybe it’s semantics, but Tennessee letting its poor offensive start affect them the way it did the rest of the game was more inexcusable than the poor offensive performance itself. The Vols will shoot poorly again this season but they can’t let their performance spiral because of it like they did against Florida.
Florida also dominated Tennessee on the glass. Both teams entered the game as two of the best rebounding teams in the country. But the Gators trounced Tennessee inside on its way to a 55-38 rebounding advantage and a 19-4 second chance points advantage.
“You get beat that badly on the boards, it’s tough to win,” Barnes said.
The Gators pushed Tennessee around in the interior, shooting 15-of-28 on shots at the rim on their way to a resounding 40 paint points. No one has had any real sustained success against Tennessee in the interior this season but the Vols also haven’t faced many teams with strong interior scoring options.
With JP Estrella’s injury and its overall lack of interior depth, that is a concern for Tennessee moving forward. Cade Phillips picking up two quick fouls off the bench forced Tennessee to play small for portions of the first half and Florida exploited that.
The Vols have plenty to work on before they return to the court on Saturday at Texas, but offense isn’t the only thing.
