Know Your Opponent: Tennessee

By Bobby Hundley

Tennessee (UTSports.com)
Location: Knoxville, Tenn.
Rankings: UT - No. 23 KenPom, No. 20 AP; UNC - No. 9 KenPom, No. 7 AP
Records: UT - 7-1; UNC - 9-1
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 9-1 (UNC 73, UT 71, Dec. 11, 2016, Smith Center)

Sunday's top-20 showdown represents the return game of a home-and-home series between two old Southern Conference foes who had only played three times since 1949 prior to last year's 73-71 Carolina victory in Chapel Hill. While last year's Volunteers showed signs of breaking out in year two under Rick Barnes before limping to a 16-16 finish, the 2017-18 edition looks poised to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since Cuonzo Martin took UT to the Sweet Sixteen in 2014.

As ESPN's John Gasaway points out in his weekend preview, Tennessee is winning with defense. The Vols have the 18th-best defense in terms of KenPom efficiency thanks to ranking in the top 10 nationally in both block percentage and 2-point FG defense. Barnes' squad is also forcing a bunch of turnovers - UT forced 18 of them and held Purdue to 0.94 PPP in a 78-75 win in the Bahamas - while doing a nice job of protecting the ball on its end of the floor.

Junior Kyle Alexander and sophomore Grant Williams both rank among the top 100 shot blockers in the country through the season's first month, with the 6-11 Alexander also registering as one of the nation's best offensive rebounders when he's on the floor. Williams is no slouch on the offensive glass himself, a fact that allows him to average a team-best 16.1 points per game despite no real impact from the outside.

Tennessee's balanced perimeter attack is led by sophomore Jordan Bowden, who has made a Kenny Williams-esque 16 of 27 3s so far this season, with junior Admiral Schofield and sophomores Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bone making a healthy percentage from deep as well. Bone and graduate transfer James Daniel III share the point guard duties, with Daniel boasting an impressive 32:9 assist-turnover ratio after coming to Knoxville from Howard. Daniel, who is the nation's leading active scorer with almost 2,000 career points, also has a pair of 10-dime games to his credit this year.

UT already has four top-100 wins on its resume and perhaps an even more attention-grabbing loss to No. 1 Villanova in which the Vols led by 15 late in the first half. After Sunday, Tennessee gets one more ACC foe in Wake Forest (the Vols have already beaten NC State and Georgia Tech) before diving into SEC play. The SEC is as deep as its been in years and does not feature a single team outside the KenPom top 90, so there will be no shortage of opportunities for Barnes' squad to build a case for March.

Players Mentioned

Kenny Williams

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