Can Vols solve their problems before March?
Rick Barnes has a habit of watching Tennessee basketball practice tape at least once daily.
The Vols coach turned his private film session into a team study on Friday.
“I made them watch what we did in practice (Friday), showed them that, ‘Hey, this ain't going to work,'” Barnes said. “And we honestly came out and played the first half, pretty much how we practiced (Friday).”
"Lethargic" was Barnes' word of choice to describe Tennessee in its 7055 loss to Kentucky on Saturday at Thompson-boling Arena.
So what now for the Vols after another baffling week?
“It's not the end of the world,” guard Victor Bailey Jr. said. “The sky is still the limit for us. We have a lot of good guys that can still make things happen. Especially as a unit, if we play together, we can make things happen. We just need to click and once we do, we'll be a problem.”
But before No. 20 Tennessee (15-6, 8-6 SEC) can be a problem, it has to face its own persistent pitfalls.
Saturday's tale was a familiar one for the Vols. They had a terrific offensive performance against South Carolina three days earlier, scoring 93 points. They followed it up with such a pitiful performance that Kentucky's lead grew in the second half despite the Wildcats shooting 20.7% from the field.
Tennessee scored 50 first-half points against the Gamecocks, then didn't break 50 until the final minute against Kentucky. Following up a great performance with a woeful one is surely the most consistent thing about this Tennessee team.
The Vols are averaging 88 points in wins and 56.7 points in losses in February, a 3-3 month.
“As a team, there hasn't been one guy that hasn't been inconsistent,” Barnes said. “I think we all know that if we can put things together, we've got a chance to be a good basketball team — a team that can play with anybody.”
Perhaps that is still true — on paper.
But Tennessee hasn't been reliable since it started SEC play with a top-10 ranking and a 20-point win against a top-15 Missouri team.
The Vols looked like world-beaters and perhaps the nation's third-best team behind Baylor and Gonzaga then. They're now staring down the possibility of not earning a top-four seed in the SEC Tournament.
“Am I disappointed? I'm very disappointed because I think we should be beyond this point of the inconsistencies that we're getting,” said Barnes, whose Vols were without guard Josiah-jordan James for the second straight game with a left wrist injury.
Once again, the primary focus of Barnes' frustrations fell on the veterans. John Fulkerson had forgettable four points on 1-for-7 shooting, and his most notable moment was giving up a behemoth baseline drive-and-dunk to Kentucky's Isaiah Jackson. Fulkerson played eight second-half minutes days after a 19-point, six-rebound game against South Carolina.
Yves Pons, who is playing through a right knee injury suffered against Kansas, has not been the same in recent games. The senior forward was on a scoring roll prior to the injury, but hasn't been steady since.
“We need everybody, but right now more than anything, we need consistency from our older guys,” Barnes said. “They've been through it, and they should understand it. I wish I could fix it, I do. We've talked about it a lot, and we'll continue to talk about it.”
And after another stellar game followed by a miserable showing, there are still plenty of problems to talk about for Tennessee. But time is running out to turn the talk into something tangible.
“We're going to click soon,” Bailey said. “I really believe it. We have to come out to practice ready to go and we have to find something that gets us ready to go every day and once we find that, we'll be fine.”