Dominant Defense

[SNAFU]

"The Tennessee defense is dominant once again, with Rick Barnes stocking his roster with physical wings and athletic, switchable bigs alongside a pest of a point guard in Zakai Zeigler. Outside of the 5-9 Zeigler, everyone in the rotation is at least 6-4. It’s extremely difficult to get a shot off against the Vols.
The first half against Baylor was total domination, jumping out to a 47-20 lead en route to a 77-62 win. Below, I charted Baylor’s offensive possessions in the first 20 minutes. A good shot is a clean jumper or lightly contested shot at the rim; a bad shot is anything highly contested.

	Baylor
Good shots	9-14
OK shots	0-7
Bad shots	0-8
Turnovers	9
FTs	0-0

Tennessee ranks second in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency and looks primed to finish top five in defense for the fifth straight year. The one area in which the Vols are even better this season is avoiding fouls. Tennessee’s opponent free-throw rate is 24.6, down from 35.7 last year and ranking 43rd nationally. In seven of Rick Barnes’ first nine years in Knoxville, Tennessee ranked outside the top 200 in free-throw rate and never finished in the top 100. Something to watch as the year progresses."

CJ Moore
The Athletic