Tennessee basketball officially opens up its 2024-25 season on Monday night as the Vols prepare to host Gardner Webb at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
After months of roster building and practice, the show is finally here. Over the course of the offseason I’ve talked to coaches about the team, watched them practice a handful of times and have seen them in one exhibition game.
More From RTI: Five Things I Think I Know About Tennessee Basketball Ahead Of Season Opener
Will Tennessee Have A Consistent Two-Point Offense?
Tennessee’s plan to replace Dalton Knecht’s offensive output was to add a bunch of good perimeter shooters to play around Zakai Zeigler. It’s a pretty sound strategy. No one player could replace what Knecht did and this places burden on multiple players with Zeigler ideally setting them up to be successful.
The downside that comes with this is that Tennessee will have to have at least an adequate two-point offense to both consistently create open looks from the perimeter and to be able to survive offensively on nights when shots aren’t falling.
And at 5-foot-9, Zeigler has never really been a very good two-point scorer. So where does that offense come from? Once again it has to be by committee. Zeigler is capable of scoring at the basket as is Charlotte transfer Igor Milicic on cuts and straight line drives.
If Jahmai Mashack’s offensive game takes a step forward then he can help answer the question. Centers Felix Okpara and JP Estrella will also have to score there.
So Tennessee has options. But can they find enough two-point offense game-in and game-out?
Who Emerges As The Second Offensive Option?
This one ties in directly to the last question. Who is Tennessee’s number two offensive threat behind Zakai Zeigler?
North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier is probably the most likely option but his dependence on perimeter shooting to score makes consistency far from a given for him. The most ideal option would be Cam Carr breaking out. We discussed that yesterday, but it doesn’t seem super likely.
Jordan Gainey is the safety pick because of his high floor but it would probably be a bad sign if it proves to be him because of his low ceiling.
Maybe it’s Milicic or Okpara. This is a question that I’m extremely uncertain of the answer.
Does Tennessee Have A Second Adequate Rim Protector?
Felix Okpara is going to be an elite rim protector for Tennessee. He was one of the best in all of college basketball last season and there’s no reason to expect that to change this season. But what about when he’s off the court?
I remain optimistic about what JP Estrella can give Tennessee offensively but remain unsure about whether he can play at a high level defensively. In an albeit small sample size last year, Estrella had a poor 2.8% block rate and was not very good at defending the rim against driving guards.
Estrella’s offseason foot injury certainly doesn’t do him any favors there. Then Cade Phillips is the other option. While he has more athleticism, he’s just 6-foot-9 which isn’t ideal in the SEC.
Okpara will play enough minutes that this shouldn’t be a huge problem even if no one emerges but this is something I’m monitoring.
Will Late Shot Clock Offense Struggle?
Back to the offense and a somewhat similar problem that we discussed in the first section. Tennessee runs an offense with a lot of motion, but there will be a number of possessions every game when the shot clock is winding down and a player will need to score in isolation or ball screen actions.
Last year, Dalton Knecht was phenomenal here and it propelled Tennessee’s offense to the second best of Barnes’ tenure. But two years ago, Zakai Zeigler struggled in this role. The same thing showed up at times in the exhibition game against Indiana.
Zeigler is a much better player now than he was two seasons ago, so I’m truly not sure what it looks like. It wouldn’t shock me if Tennessee proves to be adequate here but it is a question to me.
How Quickly Can Tennessee’s Defense Reach Its Potential?
Zeigler, Mashack and Okpara set Tennessee’s floor incredibly high defensively. But for the Vols’ defense to reach their ceiling they’ll have to play like a cohesive unit.
With offensive minded transfers replacing incredible fix-it guys Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James it would be surprising if it doesn’t take some time for everything to gel here. Rick Barnes track record indicates that it will work and be cohesive by the end of the season.
But how quickly can reach that potential? I’m unsure and it could end up having a decent impact on Tennessee’s seed line come March.
