Rick Barnes on Arizona's No. 1 offense: 'They're big and fast and they run'

Preparing to face this Tennessee basketball defense, Tommy Lloyd explained on Tuesday, is nothing short of preparing for a fistfight. If you plan on being “dainty and cute,” the Arizona coach added, you can forget it. 

“All I know is we’ve got a game Saturday,” Lloyd said, “against a really good opponent and we need to put our hard hats on.”

If No. 9 Arizona needs hard hats, No. 6 Tennessee might need track shoes.

When the Vols (9-1) face the Wildcats (9-1) on Saturday (10:30 p.m. Eastern Time; TV: ESPN2) inside the McKale Memorial Center in Tucson, it will be matchup of college basketball’s No. 1 defense against the game’s No. 1 offense.

“They’re big and fast and they run,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said earlier this week. “It’s going to be a very electric building.”

Vols facing college basketball’s No. 1 offense at Arizona

Arizona’s offense provides the electricity.

The Wildcats are No. 1 in adjusted offensive efficiency according to KenPom.com, averaging 92.0 points per game. Lloyd’s team is No. 1 in effective field-goal percentage (61.6), No. 1 in two-point percentage (63.0) and No. 23 in three-point percentage (39.3).

They operate efficiently both inside and out. 

Azoulas Tubelis, a 6-foot-11, 245-pound Lithuanian forward, averages 20.2 points per game. Oumar Ballo, a 7-foot, 260-pounder from Mali, averages 18.1 per game.

Guards Kerr Kriisa and Courtney Ramey both average 11.6 points per game. Ramey is shooting 48.7 percent from three while Kerr is shooting 40.0 percent. 

“They really do a great job of putting the ball inside,” Barnes said on Thursday. “There is no doubt when you watch them play, they’re a heavy inside-out team. Certainly have shooters that surround that. But they do as good of a job as anybody. From the time they get the ball, they’re looking at that basket. 

“They’ve got post guys that are running to get it and get it early. If not, they get ball-screen actions. And they move you to get to it. They do a great job of getting to the rim, throwing it up and going and getting it. 

“But Tommy (Lloyd) has done a terrific job in a short time there. They play hard. Always competitive. And he’s got them doing exactly what he wants them to do.”

It’s the second game in the home-and-home between the two programs, after Tennessee won 77-73 in Knoxville last December, handing Arizona its first loss of the season. It was one of only four losses for Lloyd, the longtime assistant coach under Mark Few at Gonzaga, in his first year as head coach.

“They’re sound fundamentally,” Barnes said. “You look at them, they do a lot of great things. But to be a high-scoring team, you can’t turn it over very much. The way they attack, they run.”

It was Tennessee that started the game on a run last season, jumping out to a 16-2 lead over the first five minutes. Arizona came back to tie it with 2:58 left in the second half, before the Vols found answers late.

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee at No. 9 Arizona, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2

It’s up to the Tennessee defense to find answers Saturday night in the first true road game of the season.

The Vols are KenPom’s No. 1 defense in adjusted efficiency, ranked No. 1 in effective field-goal percentage allowed (36.8), turnover percentage (27.4), three-point percentage allowed (20.2) and No. 9 in two-point percentage allowed (41.9).

Tennessee is fourth in steal percentage (16.1) and block percentage (14.6).

“Hopefully we can get our offense going the way we’re capable of doing it,” Barnes said. “But we’ve got a group of guys that have bought into each other and trying to be the best defensive team, best rebounding team we can be. 

“If you do that, we truly believe it gives us a chance to be in most games, win most games. There are nights where you run up against people that you can guard, but they still make some shots. Arizona is certainly capable of doing that.”