Tennessee's vaunted defense enters NCAA Tournament looking to eliminate costly 'lapses'

ORLANDO — It was hard for Rick Barnes to enjoy the long, buzzer-beating 3-point shot Jahmai Mashack hit at the halftime horn Friday in the SEC Tournament in Nashville. Instead, he was thinking about 15 seconds earlier when Missouri’s Kobe Brown got open for a three of his own at the top of the key. 

“That was a major breakdown on the perimeter,” Barnes said earlier this week. “You can’t do that.”

Especially this time of year. After the 79-71 loss to Missouri in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament, Tennessee (23-10) is the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East Region, opening against No. 13 Louisiana (26-7), the Sun Belt champion, late Thursday (9:40 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS) at Amway Center. 

In recent weeks, the breakdowns on defense have been far too common for a unit that ranked No. 1 in all of college basketball for more than three months this season. 

“They do happen,” Barnes said on Monday, “even games you win, those type of games … this time of year, you’ve got to be more alert to them.”

Vols unable to get stops late in losses to Auburn, Missouri

Tennessee and Missouri were tied at 69 with 2:11 left Friday at Bridgestone Arena, but Mizzou closed on a 10-2 run. Nick Honor got open for a three with 1:51 left, then D’Moi Hodge delivered the dagger 14 seconds later, putting the Tigers up six.

The Vols led 63-60 with 6:13 left at Auburn on March 4, but got outscored 19-7 from there. Both Auburn and Missouri scored 49 points in the second half against a Tennessee defense that gives up just 58.0 points per game.

“It’s certain guys that you talk about,” Barnes said of the defensive lapses. “Some of it, it’s post guys learning they’ve got to get away from the basket and step out there on switches. It goes back to personnel.

“Again, we haven’t played a perfect game all year. This time of year, you’d like to see less of that, obviously. You have to give our opponent credit for making those shots.”

Tennessee’s defense was ranked No. 1 in KenPom.com’s adjusted defensive efficiency — points per 100 possessions — for 13 weeks this season. After the loss to Missouri, the Vols (88.0) dropped to No. 2 behind UCLA (87.3).

Now Tennessee turns its attention to Louisiana, which enters Thursday’s NCAA Tournament game ranked 57th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency, scoring 112.2 points per 100 possessions. The Vols are 48th, at 112.7.

“Offensively, I think we can do what we need to do there,” Barnes said. “But we can’t have the defensive lapses especially late in the game.”

Tennessee’s offense has averaged 74.2 points per game in five games since February 25, scoring at least 70 in all five games. The Vols averaged 62.1 points per game over seven games between February 1 and February 21, scoring as little as 46 in the home win over Auburn and 85 in the home loss to Missouri.

Up Next: No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 13 Louisiana, Thursday, 9:40 p.m. ET, CBS

Stopping Louisiana will start with stopping Jordan Brown, the 6-foot-11, 225-pound former five-star prospect who averages 19.4 points and 8.7 rebounds in 31.8 minutes per game. 

“I think it’ll be a full-team challenge for us,” Tennessee senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua said on Wednesday. “Our guards will have to help the bigs and the bigs will just have to be aware where he wants to catch the ball and push his catches out, knowing he’s trying to get to that left hand. And trying to make him work that off hand a little more.

“And just being physical and keeping him out of his comfort zone. He’s a good player, and he knows what he wants to get done.”

This Tennessee defense has shown it can get the job done. The Vols just have to get back to it on that end of the floor.

“Just be as disciplined as possible,” senior wing Josiah-Jordan James said. “Coaches are always coaching us up on discipline. That’s really what defensive lapses come down to. It’s just discipline. We just have to clean up those mistakes and we’ll put ourselves in a good position to win.”