Rick Barnes breaks down what he has seen from Vanderbilt

Tennessee will travel to Nashville for an in-state rivalry matchup against the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday.

The Commodores are off to a rough start through the first half of the regular season having logged five wins on the season — and are still searching for their first SEC win of the season. Despite Vandy’s struggles, Vols headman Rick Barnes remains high on his conference opponent.

“Just dynamic backcourt play. I mean, maybe as good a back court combination as there is in the league,” Barnes said leading up to Saturday’s game. “And you all know the respect that I have from Coach [Jerry] Stackhouse and the way he builds his program, and he’s had some tough luck, obviously. But when I look at it, someone was asking me the other day about him and I was just talking about one, he has great schemes. Really a lot of really good schemes.

“[They] are playing some different defenses, multiple defenses. So you’re going to see some pressure, see some full court pressure. A little one-three-one, man defense and have shown two-three. But it’s what he does, not only with his schemes, but I think [Stackhouse] does as good a job as any coach in the country at developing players the way they do. So obviously I have the utmost respect for him and what he’s doing there.”

Vanderbilt’s backcourt consists of Ezra Manjon and Tyrin Lawrence, who combine for 29.1 points per game on average. They’re the only two players to average in the double digits on Stackhouse’s roster, while Lawrence also serves as the team’s leading rebounder (4.9 per game) and Manjon leads the team in assists per game (3.3).

Despite the Commodores’ strong combination of ball handlers, Vanderbilt remains winless during the month of January. Having last tasted victory during a Dec. 30, 16-point win against Dartmouth, knocking off a top-five ranked Tennessee team would be far and above their best win of the season. Heading into a road trip to the hostile Neville Arena to play Auburn this coming Wednesday — defending home court against the Volunteers is the last opportunity to win a game in Nashville this month.

Still, the odds are not in Vandy’s favor. Tennessee is a 13.5-point betting favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. ESPN Analytics gives Tennessee a 94.6 percent chance to leave Nashville with a victory, while KenPom predicts a 79-62 final score in favor of the Vols.