Rick Barnes reveals problems with Tennessee's defense against Vanderbilt

Tennessee got stunned for the second time in three games as the Volunteers dropped their second consecutive road game at Vanderbilt. It came in excruciating fashion with a Tyrin Lawrence three-pointer from the corner at the buzzer. However, while the defense on the final play was poor, Rick Barnes said the defense throughout wasn’t where it needed to be.

Barnes gave the Commodores their respect for making shots, especially late in the clock and the game. Even so, he wasn’t happy with his team for doing some of the things they couldn’t afford to do.

“They made some shots and they’re capable of doing that,” said Barnes. “They obviously wanted to play a possession game every time down the floor by getting it deep into the clock and executing. Jerry’s teams do a great job of doing that.”

“They made some shots…Again, at the end, you expect to be in possession games like this and you have to execute,” Barnes added. “The one thing you can’t do? We did. We just can’t do it.”

Tennessee handled business against this Vanderbilt team earlier in January in Knoxville. In the second game, though, the Commodores were much better across the board. They shot a better percentage from the field, improved their three-point percentage with four more makes, and maintained their turnover number.

Everyone will look at the final breakdown as what cost Tennessee. It was a massive swing but, as Barnes pointed out, this game was more than just the final five seconds. That’s why the Vols need to get back to work in order to break out of the funk they seem to be in.

Barnes recalls what went wrong for Tennessee with Vanderbilt’s buzzer-beater

The Volunteers suffered a back-breaking loss to the Commodores in the final moments, as a Vanderbilt buzzer-beater lifted the team to a 66-65 win over No. 6 Tennessee.

There will be plenty of regret on the Tennessee end.

For a missed wide-open dunk. For a missed front end of a one-and-one. For what Barnes described simply as “a defensive breakdown.”

There were ample chances to win it. At every turn, Tennessee came up on the wrong end of things in the final 20 seconds or so.

First, forward Julian Philips got free heading toward the rim with about 14 seconds remaining. And with no Vanderbilt players between him and the basket, Phillips pulled up, seemingly attempting to run more clock instead of putting Tennessee up 67-63 with the dunk.

“C’mon, he’s got to do that. I told him you don’t turn down a 100% shot,” Barnes said. “He’s got to do that. And he’ll learn from it, but he’s got to do that. With 18 seconds they’ve got five fouls they have to give, so they’re going to have to foul. When you get a wide-open dunk you’ve got to get it.”

That was one mistake. Another would prove even more costly seconds later.