Tennessee Basketball: 3 takeaways from Vols opening win over Colorado

Room for Offensive Growth

It’s a pretty safe bet to believe this team’s defensive prowess will be consistent throughout the season and they’ll be in the thick of the action in every contest. That kind of thinking bodes very well, given the realization that Tennessee didn’t even shoot the ball that well. It was an average evening offensively for the Vols, which can be chalked up to a combination of early-season jitters and a quality opponent.

However, the average shooting performance and a -6 rebounding margin in the game resulted in non-factors on the outcome. The defensive strengths of this team are going to help Tennessee overcome their offensive woes, should they happen, but this team can and will play much better as the season progresses. A near double-digit victory over a consistent NCAA-tournament team is a very positive outlook with only four of the Vols 10 active players shooting 40+% on the evening.

Combining an improving offense with a top-notch defense is a concern for many Power-6 level programs this year.