Tennessee men's basketball finally got over the hump by beating No. 3 Houston. Then, the Vols fell right down.
A loss in the third-place game of the Player's Era Championship to Kansas put a dent in what was a successful trip to Vegas. Then, the Vols were victims of a court storming after a 62-60 loss to Syracuse.
No. 13 Tennessee (7-2) was poised to have its breakout. Now, it is in need of a win with two big games coming up.
In their rough trip north, the Vols turned the ball over 17 times against just 15 assists. These miscues led to 24 points, a significant part of Syracuse's output.
"Just as you go back and you watch the film, it was a lot of different things, whether it was offensive fouls, whether if it was miscues on passing, just like random turnovers, catching and passing or handing off and stuff like that," associate head coach Justin Gainey said Friday. "And so the only thing you really can attribute to is just like lack of focus, lack of attention to detail."
Tennessee had been improving in ball security. The Vols gave the ball up nine times against Houston and set a season low with seven turnovers against Kansas. The Vols have two big games coming up, and turnovers won't fly against No. 14 Illinois and No. 6 Louisville.
Offensively, freshman forward Nate Ament is starting to become a more regular contributor. While he is still inefficient — shooting at a 39% clip from the field — he's given the Vols 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Against Syracuse, Ament shot 2-for-10 from the field and scored 11 points thanks to a solid night at the free throw line. Games like Tuesday's loss are important to his development over the season.
"He’s putting so much pressure on himself and he doesn’t need to do that," head coach Rick Barnes said following Tuesday's loss. "He’s got good guys around him. They have great respect for him and they know when they need to get it involved, where they need to get it."
Tennessee's leading scorer this season has been Maryland transfer Ja'Kobi Gillespie, who scored 32 points against Rutgers and 22 points in the win over Houston. A 5-for-19 shooting night from Gillespie hurt the Vols against Kansas, and
“We just got to play harder and play to win more,” Gillespie said. “I feel like some guys are just playing and not playing with a purpose, so we just got to keep going and play with a purpose.”
In the frontcourt, Tennessee has gotten help from Vanderbilt transfer Jaylen Carey, a power threat inside. His 22 points in the JMA Wireless Dome helped the Vols stay competitive with Syracuse in the losing effort.
Tennessee started the year with five buy games, and those performances didn't tell much about the state of the Vols this year. After facing heavy competition, Barnes is starting to learn more about his team.
Part of Barnes' philosophy in non-conference play is to challenge his team. Tennessee has always scheduled tough, and games against Houston, Kansas and Syracuse fit that bill.
The Vols have challenges to come against Illinois and Louisville. It's up to Tennessee to make those resume builders and not have to learn lessons from defeats.
"You hope through those experiences that at the end, you’re better from it," Gainey said, "and that there’s not a situation that you haven’t come across, an environment that you haven’t come across and you’re ready to adjust.”