KU’s Bill Self wary of Tennessee’s defense heading into SEC/Big 12 Challenge game
Tennessee’s opponents haven’t been able to rely on breakout performances from individual players against coach Rick Barnes’ Volunteers this season.
Just one opposing player — Missouri’s Xavier Pinson — has scored 20 or more points against the No. 18-ranked Vols men’s basketball team (11-3, 5-3), which plays host to No. 15-ranked Kansas (11-5, 5-4) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday. Tipoff is 5 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee, with a live broadcast on ESPN.
“They are great defensively,” KU coach Bill Self said of the Vols, who have been torched by just that one player — Pinson — who scored 27 points in the Tigers’ 73-64 victory over UT last Saturday in Knoxville.
By comparison, KU’s defense has had seven opposing players score 20 or more points against the Jayhawks in 2020-21. KU has had 10 20-point scoring performances of its own in 16 games.
“A team that struggled to get to 20, that didn’t get to 20 tonight, is going to play a team that only gives up 53 (points) a game,” Self added. “We’ll have to play a little bit better offensively.”
KU managed just 18 points in the first half of the Jayhawks’ 59-51 victory over TCU on Thursday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
Self — he said he’s put all of his time this week into the TCU game (one that busted a three-game losing streak) — was off a few points on the Vols’ stats. Tennessee has allowed 59.3 points a game, which at midweek ranked sixth in the country in fewest points allowed.
KU, meanwhile, ranked 127th nationally in the same category at 67.5 points allowed per contest. The Vols’ opponents have made 39.4% of their shots; KU’s foes have made 41.5% of their attempts. Teams have made 30.8% of their threes versus the Vols and 34.4% against the Jayhawks.
“I know they are an athletic team, defensively a sound team,” KU power forward David McCormack said of UT. He scored 15 points and grabbed six boards in 26 minutes against TCU. “We’ll have to make plays and be defensively sound as well,” McCormack added.
Tennessee is led by 6-9 senior forward John Fulkerson, who averages 11.2 points and 6.0 boards a game. Their four other starters — forward Yves Pons and guards Josiah-Jordan James, Santiago Vescovi and Keon Johnson — all average between 9.2 and 8.1 points per outing.
Guard Victor Bailey contributes 10.9 points per game off the bench. Pons has 27 blocked shots in 14 games for the Vols, who have split a pair of games to Missouri and also lost to Alabama and Florida. UT snapped a two-game losing streak by beating Mississippi State, 56-53, Tuesday in Knoxville where the Vols are 9-2.
“It’s a quick turnaround. That’s how it is,” said KU wing Ochai Agbaji. He missed 9 of 14 shots en route to 13 points Thursday versus TCU. KU as a team hit 41.1 % of its shots and was 4-of-17 from three. TCU hit 35.2% from the field and was 8-of-21 from three.
“We had a long break from last Saturday (loss at Oklahoma). We have a tough stretch now. It’s what we came here to do, play,” Agbaji added. “We’ll go over tape. We’ll be ready for them.”
KU’s McCormack welcomes a game against an SEC team.
“I never thought about it (but) that is good to get away from conference play,” McCormack said.
KU’s Self said: “We’ll do some things to prepare our guys. This is one game I can’t get too worked up from a standpoint of … we put so much emphasis into winning this (TCU) game. We’ve not given ourselves a chance nor will we to prepare any way other than mentally to go play this game. Physically we are not going to be able to prepare for this game because of the energy it took to play tonight (vs. TCU). The travel ... play on Saturday, then we’ve got to turn around for a game Tuesday. We want to go win this game desperately,” Self added, “but winning tonight (against TCU) and winning on Tuesday, are far more important.”
KU, which is 5-2 all-time in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, returns home to meet Kansas State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
