Tennessee Basketball: Takeaways from Lenoir-Rhyne exhibition matchup

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 13: Josiah-Jordan James #5 of the Tennessee Volunteers gestures against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first half of their semifinal game in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 13, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /

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A much deeper bench

The Recruiting Services Consensus Index place Tennessee’s incoming class of freshman as the No. 3 ranked class, trailing only Gonzaga and Michigan. The Vols top ranked class is led by reclassified center Brandon Huntley-Hatfield – who fell from the No.4 ranked prospect, in the 2022 class to the No.19 prospect in ESPN’s 2021 – as well as the top ranked freshman point guard in the nation Kennedy Chandler. In addition, the No. 39 freshman Jonas Aidoo and the No. 64 freshman Jahmai Mashack will deepen the bench along with Auburn transfer Justin Powell.

Coach Barnes had just seven players average double digit playing minutes last season and there was an outstanding drop-off from the 24.8 minutes Victor Bailey averaged and the 8.5 EJ Anosike averaged per game. If the defense is going to be so high octane, they will need to keep everybody’s legs fresh.

Albeit versus lesser competition, nine Volunteers played over 10 minutes as 15 players saw action and all but four scored versus Lenoir-Rhyne. The glaring shortcoming for the Vols is the drop-off that occurs when Kennedy is off the court. The obvious drop off from Chandler is seen as Santiago Vescovi although fine at point guard, he is not great and Zakai Zeigler can push the ball while putting pressure on the defense, but he does not have the skillset to take defenders off the dribble in order to draw help and dish, to the same degree as Chandler.

If the Vols are able to get leads, they have the bench to be able to keep those leads until the starters rotate back in to pull away even further. Come March, a serviceable bench is of the utmost importance as Coach Barnes learned in their first round upset loss to Oregon State in the first round the last tournament.

In the 14-point loss to the No.12 seed, six players played 24 or minutes and 2021-22 starter Uros Plavsic played just ten. With Josiah-Jordan James connecting on just 2 of 10 field goals, coach Barnes had no other options.

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