Tennessee Basketball: 2019-20 keys for Vols against Wisconsin Badgers

2. Defend Wisconsin’s bigs

While Tennessee tries to rework their offense on the fly, they also need to prevent the Badgers offense from exploding. It’s been hit-or-miss with them so far, with four different games of at least 80 points scored along with three straight matchups with under 55 points (all losses). Even with Turner out, the Vols defense should be fine in what should end up being a sub-60 type of contest.

But Tennessee does need to be careful of Nate Reuvers, the leading scorer and rebounder for the Badgers (15.2 ppg and 5.2 rpg). The 6’11 forward isn’t as good as Ethan Happ was for all four years but he’s reached double figures in all but one game so far this season. 6’8 forward Aleem Ford (10.0 ppg and 4.5 rpg) also is on the frontline and the Badgers just got Ohio State transfer center Micah Potter eligible last game. In 13 minutes, the 6’9 big man went for 12 points and five rebounds. Even as Reuvers backup, he’ll still be someone the Vols have to deal with.

Tennessee doesn’t have the greatest amount of size but does have breakout senior John Fulkerson, a 6’9 forward who is a sound individual defender. He’ll have to avoid foul trouble in this matchup in particular because having freshman Olivier Nkamhoua deal with a skilled player like Reuvers is a problem waiting to happen.

As for the rebounding battle, neither team boasts an elite individual board-grabber but the teams have a combined 10 players who all pull down at least four rebounds a game. In a matchup that’s likely to have a lot of misses, it’ll be all hands on deck to get the margins advantage.