I get it. You probably think Tennessee Basketball is reverting to old Rick Barnes teams after the Vols’ 66-62 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers Sunday, one that is consistent defensively but way too streaky on offense with an inability to manufacture points. Simply put, you’re worried that 2023-24 was a one-off with Dalton Knecht.
The opposite was actually true at Thompson-Boling Arena.
UT shot 8-of-35, or 22.9 percent, from the three-point line against Indiana in its loss Sunday. They still managed 62 points, though, which is as high or higher than all of their scoring outputs last year when they shot below 25 percent from three. Tennessee Basketball did that three times last year.
Taking that into account, it would suggest they are going to be as good at manufacturing points this year without Knecht as they were last year, and that was clear despite their slumps in this game, which included multiple runs by Indiana in the second half. Zakai Zeigler got to the line and hit seven of eight free throws en route to 13 points. Jordan Gainey scored 12.
There is only one way you could think the Vols’ offense could be this bad in the regular season without Knecht , and that’s if you think they will be that bad from three multiple times on the year. The odds and stats show that’s not going to happen, and this was very clearly an anomaly.
When you add the numbers of all the individuals on this team, they collectively hit one more three-pointer on average than last year’s group of guys and also shoot one point better percentage-wise. As a result, there’s no way they won’t be as good as or better from beyond the arc this year.
Chaz Lanier was the main culprit of struggling from three, going 2-of-12 on the afternoon, but he still managed 12 points. Rick Barnes also played Darlinstone Dubar, one of the biggest offensive threats from the outside who transferred to Rocky Top from Hofstra, for only six minutes.
Simply put, Tennessee Basketball is a better three-point shooting team than last year and had what would have been the second-worst outing from three on last year’s team in this game while still managing 62 points. All of that means they hav just as much to manufacture points as last year. Therefore, this team looks better.
Now, you can still show some concern. Dubar not playing a lot is a question, and if that continues, forget this whole column. However, it’s reasonable to bank on the fact that Barnes is going to use him a lot more going forward given what he can do. If he did on Sunday, UT probably wins.
Meanwhile, the defense for Tennessee Basketball is exactly what a Barnes-led team should be, and they were 18-of-21 from the free throw line. Every part of this team was good against a ranked opponent in an exhibition game except for three-point shooting, and that’s not going to be a real issue this year.
