Will Vols make the NCAA Tournament?
Rick Barnes started talking to his team about the “big picture” of a season back in November.
The Tennessee Vols coach is still doing that as his team has stumbled through the middle of SEC play with eight regular-season games remaining. It won’t be an easy stretch, Barnes said, but he also thinks his team won’t be viewed as “an easy out” in the season’s final month.
“We do look at the big picture,” Barnes said. “We are like a lot of people, bunched up right there. We will see if we can get some coming down the stretch.”
So what is the big picture for Tennessee after its 77-64 loss to No. 16 Kentucky?
Here’s three key facets for the Vols (13-10, 5-5 SEC), who have lost four of five:
Uphill battle
Tennessee’s SEC schedule basically broke into three parts: A friendly start, an uptick in the middle and a brutal close.
Barnes put a positive outlook on the remaining games Saturday, calling them “great opportunities for us to do something down the stretch.”
Tennessee closes with two games against Auburn, two games against Arkansas, trips to South Carolina and Kentucky and home games against Florida and Vanderbilt. The latter is the most winnable, while the rest are tough — but, as Barnes said, also are opportunities to get the caliber of wins that make a difference if Tennessee can play itself back onto the NCAA Tournament bubble.
“We want to get to the tournament,” guard Jordan Bowden said. “We want to get to the big dance. We just have to know what it takes to get there. It is the little things and the details that get us to those games. We just have to keep working and keep fighting.”
The Vols need to win five of their final eight games to have a winning record in conference play, which certainly will be needed to reach the NCAA Tournament. Auburn, Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky were all in the Top 50 in the NCAA NET rankings entering Saturday.
Post greatness and post misery
Tennessee is at its best when John Fulkerson and Yves Pons are its main offensive options. Pons has flashed big-time ability, especially at Kansas. Fulkerson has been UT’S most consistent offensive threat and, frankly, is either winning games or keeping the Vols in games lately.
But the backup bigs haven’t provided any help to Fulkerson and Pons.
Uros Plavsic has started the past three games with Josiah-jordan James sidelined. He had a big-time outing at Mississippi State, but was lousy in a hard matchup at Alabama. He played two second-half minutes against Kentucky and was ineffective in his 11 minutes. The 7-footer is averaging 1.4 rebounds.
Barnes offered a harsh but honest assessment of Plavsic, whom he said doesn’t have “a clue about how he has to play this game.”
“Uros has to be more physical,” Barnes said. “A guy that size, he can’t be a finesse player. He can’t be a finesse player. But he’s a freshman, he’s learning this.”
Olivier Nkamhoua was better Saturday, but didn’t play until the second half because he has been brutal lately. If he can prove to be a reliable rebounder as he did in great outings against Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, he should be the best backup option.
Drew Pember has earned more playing time lately and should continue to get minutes if he can guard.
Defense on the outside
When Barnes watches tape from last season — a common occurrence in preparing for SEC opponents — the biggest difference is perimeter, on-ball defense.
“With what we’ve gone through this year, we’ve had to adjust our defense and we’re not nearly as good on the ball as we’d like to be,” Barnes said. “We’ll keep getting better, and we have to, to be quite frank.”
The Vols had a potentially elite defensive backcourt in November with Lamonte Turner, Bowden and James. Now, it has only Bowden remaining from that group. James hasn’t played in three games due to a groin injury and his absence could continue. Turner retired in December due to a shoulder injury.
Understandably, midseason addition Santiago Vescovi isn’t Turner. Davonte Gaines and Jalen Johnson both are playing bigger roles, but neither is a top-notch defender.
Kentucky’s speedy guard trio of Ashton Hagans, Tyrese Maxey and Immanuel Quickley shredded Tennessee’s perimeter defense. The Vols aren’t going to be the strong perimeter defensive team they could have been this season. But they have to be better in the final month.
“I don’t know if we have options if you ask me that right now,” Barnes said of improving the perimeter defense.