Tennessee Basketball: I think the Vols are getting better

Tennessee basketball destroys the Ole Miss Rebels 73-48 in Knoxville on Tuesday night to add another SEC win to its resume.

Tennessee basketball may be one of the more unknown teams in the SEC in regards to how good they are. It does look like Rick Barnes‘ Vols are getting better, though.

The Vols are currently 12-6, 4-2 in the SEC. That’s good enough to be tied for third in the SEC with Florida, and since Tennessee began SEC play, it seems like the Vols have continued to improve.

The offense is getting better each week, and that could be thanks to the addition of Santiago Vescovi and, more recently, Uros Plavsic.

Each game, different players have stepped up and contributed, showing how versatile Tennessee’s offense can be. That hasn’t always been the case this season, but recently we’ve seen Yves Pons and Jordan Bowden come to life, among others.

The BasketVols still have a lot to prove before I can say for certain that the Vols are a top team in the SEC, but they are improving.

In Tennessee’s most recent game, the Vols beat Ole Miss by 25 in a game that I thought Ole Miss would be the better team in. Ole Miss is in a slump, though, and haven’t been able to find its footing since the start of SEC play going 0-5.

Bowden showed up again with 11 points, Josiah Jordan-James also finished will 11, Olivier Nkamhoua had ten, and John Fulkerson led the Vols on offense with 18 points.

Four Vols finishing with double-digit points is impressive, especially with how the offense has performed recently, but it’s a nice thing to start seeing consistently.

Tennessee’s defense was the big player in Tuesday night’s game. Ole Miss made only 30% of its shots, and Fulkerson, the leader of the defense, said that showing is something the Vols can pride themselves on.

"“That’s really something we can pride ourselves on,” Fulkerson said. “If shots aren’t falling, we can still lock down defensively. I think we have done a much better job on the defensive end, but I think we still have a long, long ways to go.”"

If the Vols’ defense can continue to show up like they did against the Rebels, then I believe this season could turn out better than many expected coming into 2020.

Tennessee has Kansas next on the schedule, and the Jayhawks are coming off a “fight” against Kansas State. There could be some repercussions for some of Kansas’ player’s actions, so it’s unclear what team Kansas will field when the Vols come to town.