Rick Barnes encouraged by Tennessee's offense despite three-point struggles

Over the past two games, Tennessee‘s three-point percentage is down to 30.1 (14-40) despite winning both games over above-average competition in Georgia and Texas, respectively. They’ve outscored their opposition by 40 points over the past week without reliable outside shooting — something that doesn’t typically equal success in college basketball.

For Vols head coach Rick Barnes, his playmaking guards and formidable forwards are starting to find balance between chucking up three-pointers and making the extra entry pass for an easier bucket. Now ranked No. 2 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, that consistency seems to be working in Tennessee’s favor.

“It’s the fact that we want to be able to score on nights when we’re not shooting the three well. But some of that is [the opponent’s] game plan was obvious that they were going to do what a lot of teams do to us — try to take away the perimeter and force us to go inside with it,” Barnes said Monday. “Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve spent a lot of time on that inside game, to see different guys do it.”

Part of that was point guard Zakai Zeigler‘s 10 assists and his ability to find Tennessee’s bigs down low. Senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua scored a season-high 27 points on 12-for-15 shooting, which counteracted Tennessee’s 31 percent (6-19) shooting night from behind the arc. Barnes said Nkamhoua’s night was “really encouraging,” and praised Zeigler’s ability to get his teammates invoved.

“The way our perimeter guys were looking to get the ball inside against the zone and different defenses, it’s encouraging anytime we can get great balance,” Barnes said. “This team, I think we’ve got guys that can score at different levels and we’ve just got to [stay] consistent.”

With Barnes likely preaching balance this week, Tennessee will be looking for its fifth win in a row Wednesday night when they take on Florida on the road. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN2.