University of North Carolina Athletics
Know Your Opponent: Tennessee
December 11, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Tennessee (UTsports.com)
Location: Knoxville, Tenn.
Rankings: UT - No. 86 KenPom, NR AP; UNC - No. 3 KenPom, No. 7 AP
Records: UT - 4-3; UNC - 9-1
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 8-1 (UNC 101, UT 87, Nov. 24, 2006, Madison Square Garden)
After a 1-2 showing at the Maui Invitational, Tennessee had 10 days off to return to Knoxville and regroup. The time off seems to have paid off for Rick Barnes and his young team, as the Vols routed Georgia Tech and Presbyterian on Rocky Top to improve to 4-3 on the year ahead of Sunday's visit to Chapel Hill.
UT features three freshman starters and Barnes has one of the youngest rosters in college basketball. In addition to being wet behind the ears, the Vols are also unusually small for a major-conference team. Only 6-10 sophomore Kyle Anderson is taller than 6-7, and as a team Tennessee ranks 289th nationally in average height according to KenPom.com.
Often when a team has had a recent coaching change, it can be instructive to look at the what the current coach has done at his previous stop. Barnes spent close to two decades at Texas before moving to Knoxville in 2015, so his credentials are well-established. However, the difference in personnel makes it difficult to draw useful comparisons. Led by a beefy front line of Jonathan Holmes, Myles Turner and Cameron Ridley, Barnes' last Texas team excelled defensively by blocking shots and protecting the paint. The undersized Vols, on the other hand, have made their living by pushing the tempo and forcing turnovers on better than 25 percent of opponent possessions. In 2015, Texas ranked 350th nationally in defensive turnover rate.
Despite regularly starting three freshmen, Tennessee is without what could be its best first-year player in point guard Jordan Bone. Bone had 21 points in his collegiate debut against Chattanooga, then dished out eight assists in a win over Appalachian State. But he started having foot pain in the lead-up to the Maui Invitational and was limited to just seven minutes in the loss to Wisconsin before being shut down with a stress fracture. Without the services of Bone at the point, Barnes has turned to Lamonte Turner and Shembari Phillips to handle the ball.
Led by Turner and Phillips, UT is coming off a record shooting night against Presbyterian. The Vols made a program-best 16 3s in the 90-50 win over the Blue Hose, including seven from Turner. Overall, Tennessee has been streaky from deep. None of its high-volume shooters are making more than 36 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc, although Phillips has made a head-turning 9 of 12 so far in his redshirt freshman campaign.
Robert Hubbs is the team's primary impact senior, playing for his third head coach in four seasons at UT. He has been outstanding of late, averaging 17.3 points over his last three games. He is also an exception foul shooter who has made 22 of 23 from the charity stripe so far this year. Down low, freshmen Grant Williams and John Fulkerson team with Alexander to produce a better offensive rebounding team than the size would perhaps predict. All three players rank in the top 100 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage. Only Williams of that trio makes more than half of his 2-point field goal attempts against D-I opposition.
The jury is still out on this young team that was picked to finish 13th in the SEC after placing 12th in league in 2015-16. After Sunday, the Vols have two more pre-conference tests - a Dec. 18 meeting with Gonzaga in Nashville and a trip to a frisky ETSU club four days later. If it can continue to force turnovers in bunches, shore up the outside shooting while continuing to pound the offensive glass and get Bone back sooner than later, UT should be able to exceed expectations in year two under Barnes.
