Vols Basketball: Three Takeaways About Tennessee's Defense
After winning two conference games at home and getting some help from Duke, Michigan, and Virginia, the Tennessee basketball team could very well be eyeing the number one spot in this week’s rankings. Despite the potential top spot, Rick Barnes was not terribly pleased with his team’s outing, especially defensively. Much of Barnes’s and the […]
After winning two conference games at home and getting some help from Duke, Michigan, and Virginia, the Tennessee basketball team could very well be eyeing the number one spot in this week’s rankings.
Despite the potential top spot, Rick Barnes was not terribly pleased with his team’s outing, especially defensively. Much of Barnes’s and the players’ interviews after the game revolved around defense, or the lack-there-of.
Here are the three takeaways about Tennessee’s defense following their win over Alabama.
Mentality
Following Saturday’s narrow win over Alabama, Rick Barnes was quick to point out that his team’s defense is not where he believes it needs to be. “We had some major breakdowns,” says Barnes. “Guys we know we can’t give open looks to, we gave open looks to.”
Barnes believes his team is not fully committed to defense mentally. Seeming incredibly disappointed, Barnes told the media “The guys don’t have the defensive mentality… We’re not as hungry on that end as we need to be.”
Barnes closed out his defensive comments by saying “I don’t know how we can work on it harder, it’s a mindset that we have to realize and dive back into.”
Saying that he doesn’t know how they can work any harder is a cause of a bit of concern. Jordan Bone pointed out after the game that he also feels a lack of defensive intensity especially compared to last season. Bone talked about the team having to be defense-led last season because they couldn’t score efficiently. Bone also admits that this defense-first mentality is not there anymore, but acknowledges that the team needs to find it again.
X’s and O’s
From a chalkboard standpoint, Alabama coach Avery Johnson took a page out of Florida’s playbook: The Pick and Roll. Florida exposed Tennessee’s inability to guard one of basketball’s oldest plays a couple weeks ago and Alabama did the same on Saturday.
In the first half, there were numerous occasions where Alabama forward, Donta Hall, found himself wide open underneath the basket for a layup or two handed slam. Each of those sequences started with a ball screen and the screener (Hall) rolling to the basket.
Whichever forward was guarding Hall, whether it be Williams, Alexander, or Fulkerson would generally do the right thing. They would step out around the screen and hedge the guard outside. The lapse came from behind.
The help side defense has to be near or underneath the basket to take away the dump off pass to Hall. Too many times yesterday, we saw Tennessee’s help side defenders worrying more about the perimeter than the paint, therefore leaving a wide open lane to the basket.
Who Do and Don’t We Trust on the Perimeter?
Two things are for sure, Yves Pons is becoming a liability and Jordan Bowden is stepping up.
After Saturday’s game, Avery Johnson said he “intentionally targeted guys that they didn’t think were great defenders.” Barnes also mentioned this saying that Alabama found some mismatches.
That mismatch was Yves Pons. When he is guarding someone one-on-one, Pons does a decent job, but when he has to guard off the ball is when he struggles (he was a major factor in leaving the middle open on the pick and roll plays).
Even Barnes admitted that Pons “gets a little bit lost” when teams start running him off of single and double screens off the ball.
On the other hand, Jordan Bowden is proving he can defend even the hottest of shooters. Yesterday after Alabama’s guard John Petty dropped 30 points, Bowden took over the guarding duties for the final 6 minutes of the game and prevented him from doing anything down the stretch.
Barnes was proud to say he thought Bowden did a great job and Jordan Bone even pointed to Bowden’s mentality saying that “Jordan (Bowden) wanted Petty. He wanted to guard him.”
Bowden is close to where Barnes wants his team to be defensively, now it is time for the rest of the team to catch up.
Despite the concerns on the defensive end, this team is still the best team in the country. The thought that they still don’t have it all together defensively, is really just a scary thought for everyone else.
(Featured Image: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports)
