LSU Men’s Basketball is set to play Tennessee on Saturday in what will be yet another tough SEC game against a ranked opponent. Leading up to the game I was able to talk with Ethan Stone of The Daily Beacon who serves as Assistant Sports Editor and covers Men’s Basketball for Tennessee. With that said, here is the conversation I had with Ethan and what he had to say about this Tennessee team.
Rauterkus: Tennessee over the last few years have been a very defense-first, grind-it-out type of team. What would you say about the way they play on defense?
Stone: Yeah, that’s always been a staple of Rick Barnes’ teams ever since he got here in 2016. I feel like Tennessee has always been a top-of-the-line defensive team, and offensively as you probably saw against Ole Miss, it’s kind of been the other story. So the defense has had to carry them sometimes, especially this season. Now that game against Ole Miss obviously, Tennessee goes and wins and overtime 66-60, but that doesn’t happen without the defense, that doesn’t happen without just a suffocating defensive presence. So, you know, moving forward to this Saturday, where like you said, you’ve got Tennessee and LSU who have probably the top five defensive teams not even just in the conference, but in the nation battling it out, I would not expect a very high scoring game.
Rauterkus: Against Ole Miss, Tennessee only allowed 21 points in the first half, but also only scored 19. What’s been the biggest issue for Tennessee on offense?
Stone: I really wish I could give you just a straight answer. The best thing I can think of is like I said a little bit earlier, Tennessee has almost completely changed their offensive philosophy from last year and from years prior under Rick Barnes. They used to be a team that would work through the paint, work for bigs, work into the post, get fouled and shoot from the free-throw line and that’s just kind of how they ran their offense. This year, it’s completely different. Tennessee is taking upwards of 30-40 threes a game at some points and that’s all fine and dandy, that’s kind of, the new age, how college basketball is being played in the new age, but the problem is they’re not making their shots. They’re one of the top teams in the country I think for three-point percentage, which means that most of their shots are coming from deep, but they’re just not sinking them. I can’t remember what the exact number was against Ole Miss, but it was like 28% from three, and that’s just not really a recipe for success. So it’s a little mix of that and just not quite having a leader offensively that has emerged at this point. Everyone thought it was going to be Kennedy Chandler, but really the closest we’ve gotten is Santiago Vescovi. Obviously, you saw it against Ole Miss, he had 17 points, and really he was the only reason offensively that Tennessee was able to claw back and win that game. So just kind of a myriad of that it’s just kind of all over the place. I guess no one really has stepped up and no one has been able to run Barnes’ offense the way I feel like he wants it to be run
Rauterkus: What’s been the identity on defense that has allowed Tennessee to be so good on that end especially after losing an elite rim protector in Yves Pons from last year?
Stone: I feel like going into the season, everyone knew Tennessee was still going to be stout defensively, one of the top50 units in the nation, at least, because that’s just what Barnes has been. That’s what he installs into his teams that hey, you have to play defensively or you’re going to get kicked out of the game. Justin Powell actually, he’s really good offensively, he’s a 40% three-point shooter, but he got taken out of the game in favor of someone else last week against Alabama, and he said he took him out just because he wasn’t playing defensively. So anyway, getting back to Pons, everyone thought that because Pons wasn’t in the picture anymore, Tennessee was kind of going to falter on the defensive end but it’s been the opposite of that. Everybody locking in, Olivier Nkamhoua I feel like on the defensive end has really stepped into his role Zakai Zeigler, a freshman guard along with Kennedy Chandler, is playing excellent defense in the backcourt, and you’ve just got several guys that can play defense really well, that’s really what it comes down to.
Rauterkus: What does this game mean for Tennessee coming off an ugly win against Ole Miss and a loss to start conference play against Alabama?
Stone: Tennessee has been kind of shaky on the road, going into Alabama and losing that one in the game that Tennessee was missing John Fulkerson and Kennedy Chandler, so I guess if you’re an excuses type of person you can make the excuse that they were missing people, but they’re 1-1 on the road and just going into SEC play I feel like this game is huge just for the confidence level of the team. The vols have gone and laid a few eggs in neutral court and away gameplay this year. Against Villanova, they lost 71-53, and only put up 53 points, and then put up just 52 points in overtime against Texas Tech. They just really need to get going on the offensive end, and I mean LSU is the best team in college basketball that they can really challenge themselves with because they have one of the top defenses in the nation. So, this is just kind of a “prove it” game. Against Ole Miss, Rick Barnes and the squad found a way to win and they really need to take that momentum into LSU just so they can prove that they belong with the big boys of the SEC such as Alabama, such as Auburn and such as LSU right now the way they’re playing.
Rauterkus: Tennessee has really struggled against LSU the last few years with LSU having won the last three meetings. Is that something that is talked about Tennessee and is on their minds going into this game?
Stone: I’m really happy you brought that up, because it absolutely is. And it’s not just LSU, Tennessee has had real problems with Auburn as of late as well. I can’t remember what the exact number is, but it’s something like 0-7 against Auburn and LSU in the past three years, which is just incredible, really, because Barnes has been able to beat up on all the teams in the SEC, except for LSU, Auburn and Alabama. But as far as LSU goes, it’s always a fun game. I remember Santiago Vescovi made his entrance into college basketball against LSU, he had six threes for 18 points in his debut coming from Uruguay. And that was an excellent game and Tennessee couldn’t get it done in the end, and that’s just kind of the reality against LSU. Tennessee hasn’t been able to get it done and I feel like the Tennessee players know that, Rick Barnes knows that and they want to change that narrative on Saturday against the Tigers.
Predictions
Rauterkus: 62-55 LSU
LSU comes into this game with momentum after the big win against Kentucky and I think that will carry over into this game. On the flip side of that, Tennessee does not have much momentum after an ugly win against Ole Miss, and coming into a tough road game against a talented team like LSU will not be an easy task. In the end, I just don’t think Tennessee will have enough offense to beat LSU and I have LSU pulling away at the and
Stone: 68-66 LSU
Tennessee has had trouble beating LSU in the past, and I don’t see that changing considering this is one of the better Wade teams in recent memory. It will be a defensive battle for sure that I could see going either way on a neutral court, but it being at the PMAC gives the slight edge to the Tigers.