Scouting Report: Tennessee Volunteers

It is time for a trip to Knoxville. The Kentucky Wildcats begin the toughest four-game stretch in college basketball this evening with a rematch against the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson Boling Arena. Tennessee has won seven of their last eight games since getting blown out at Rupp Arena, including four straight. They now sit at 18-6, 9-3 in the Southeastern Conference with a #16 national ranking by the Associated Press. A win tonight for the Wildcats would go a long way towards securing the number two seed in the SEC Tournament, while a loss would bring them back into a tie with the Volunteers.

At the time of our first meeting, the Vols were shooting just 32.2% from beyond the arc despite taking the 40th most threes in the country. They have since fallen to 53rd in attempts, but have raised their team percentage all the way to 34.5%. Tennessee has shot just a tick under 38% from deep in their last eight games including 42.6% during their current four-game winning streak. Despite losing by 28 points in Lexington, the Volunteers did shoot 11-23 from three so Kentucky must be ready to do a better job of guarding the arc. Santiago Vescovi has played like an All-SEC guard of late knocking in 26 of his last 57 three-point attempts, Josiah-Jordan James has finally gotten hot from deep to correct his percentage towards the mean, and Zakai Zeigler has become one of the best sixth men in the conference.

As always, we’ve got a full scouting report prepared for your consumption. You will find an in-depth look at their personnel, offensive and defensive scheme breakdowns with supporting video clips, and the keys to the game. Now, let’s dive in and get to know more about the Tennessee Volunteers.

Tennessee Volunteers Personnel

Starters

#1 Kennedy Chandler: 6’0″ 171 lbs, Freshman Point Guard

13.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.8 apg

Playmaking point guard. Very capable shooter. You need to get out and take away the 3’s off the dribble. Break his rhythm on the perimeter. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase him off downscreens and flares. Be willing to switch the ballscreens to stay between him and the basket. Don’t let him reject the ballscreen! Really wants to drive it right. Get over and cut off the right hand drives. Excellent passer. Don’t over help as he drives. Would rather make him finish at the rim than kick out to a shooter for 3. You need to be tightening up to your man as he drives it. Stay on his hip and get your hands up at the end of his drives. You can help off him, but be ready to recover and contest. Very active hands defensively. 2.3 steals per game. Make him take contested jump shots. 

#25 Santiago Vescovi: 6’3″ 191 lbs, Junior Guard

13.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.3 apg

Left-handed shooter. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Need to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. 182 of 248 shots have been 3’s. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase him off downscreens and flares. Switch if there is space to get out and take away the 3. Will shoot them from deep so you need to get all the way out there to take him away. Absolutely no help off him. Loves to shot fake on the perimeter. He will shot fake on almost every catch. Will drive it left to get to the rim or will shoot the pull-up when driving it right. Contest the pull-up jumpers. The deeper he takes it the more he is driving to pass. Don’t over help when he drives. Very active hands defensively. 1.8 steals per game. NO 3’s!

#30 Josiah-Jordan James: 6’6″ 214 lbs, Junior Guard/Forward

8.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.3 apg

Left-handed shooter. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Need to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. 116 of 169 shots have been 3’s. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Don’t look at his season percentage, he is 35% in the last 8 games on 43 attempts. Need to take him away. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase him off downscreens and flares. Switch if he ballscreens to take away the 3’s. Will drive it left when you take him away from 3. Make him finish contested 2’s. Physical and strong around the basket. Will play the 4 when they go smaller. Excellent rebounder. Will crash the offensive glass hard. Box out. Can’t let him get going from 3.

#2 Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: 6’10” 246 lbs, Freshman Forward

3.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.3 apg

Strong, skilled forward. Physical around the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Will face up to drive it right in the post. No right hand drives. Likes to face-up and play from the elbows. Will shoot the face-up jumper in that 15-18 foot range. Need to be there to give a hard contest to the face-up jumpers. Be physical on his left shoulder. Make him score with you between him and the basket. Ballscreens and rolls to the basket or will pop into space in that 15-18 foot range. Not very comfortable with the ball inside. 6 assists to 17 turnovers. Don’t leave shooters, but you can come steal it if there is an opportunity. Very good offensive rebounder. Box out!

#33 Uros Plavsic: 7’0″ 251 lbs, Junior Center

4.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.5 apg

High-energy 5-man. Plays very hard. Ballscreens and rolls to the rim. Stay between him and the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical on his left shoulder. Very good offensive rebounder. Box out! Don’t let him play harder than you! Excellent at tipping balls out on the offensive glass. You have to clear him out away from the rim when the shot goes up. Get your body into him so he can tip the ball back out. He will play physical and try to get under your skin. Don’t get mixed up in his antics.

Bench

#5 Zakai Zeigler: 5’9″ 167 lbs, Freshman Point Guard

8.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.5 apg

Backup point guard. Extremely quick with the ball. Will push it up the floor hard in transition. Need to get the ball stopped. Good shooter. No 3’s!!! 16 for his last 34 from 3 in his last 8 games. 36.4% on the season. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Get all the way out there to take him away from 3. This is a change from last game. Don’t get stuck going under or he will make them behind the ballscreen/handoff. Right hand driver. No right hand drives! Stay on his hip and get your hands up at the end of his drives. Make him finish. Do not over help when he drives. Very good passer. Would rather make him finish than kick out for 3. Very active hands defensively. 1.8 steals per game. No 3’s! No layups!

#10 John Fulkerson: 6’9″ 219 lbs, Graduate Student Forward

7.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.6 apg

Lefty forward. Wants to score around the basket. Ballscreens and rolls to the basket. Left hand driver. NO LEFT HAND DRIVES!!! Always coming back left to finish. Loves to go right to spin back left. Be physical on his right shoulder as he drives it to keep him from coming back left. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Non-shooter. You can play off him, but don’t want to give him a big head of steam to drive. Be tighter to guard the ballscreens as well. Keep him at arms length and be ready for him to drive at you. Loves the turnaround jumper over the left shoulder. Give a hard contest. Make him score with you between him and the basket. Stunt and fake at him when he has the ball in the post. Don’t let him be comfortable and dribble it 3+ times. Excellent offensive rebounder. BOX OUT!

#24 Justin Powell: 6’6″ 197 lbs, Sophomore Guard

4.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.9 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Wants to catch-and-shoot. 61 of 93 shots have been 3’s. Need to be tight to him at all times to take away the 3’s. Tighten up as the ball is driven towards you. Get over ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Find him in transition. Will shoot from deep. Get all the way out and take him away. Will drive it right when you take him away from 3. Make him finish 2’s with you between him and the basket. Absolutely no help off him. No 3’s!

#12 Victor Bailey Jr.: 6’4″ 182 lbs, Senior Guard

3.1 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.5 apg

Left-handed shooter. Willing shooter. 51 of 81 shots have been 3’s. Not shooting a good percentage, but he just wants to catch-and-shoot. Tighten up as the ball is driven towards you. Just be there to give a contest if he shoots it. Extremely athletic. Will drive it left when you take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. No left hand drives. Just stay tight and take away the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s. You can help off him, but then be ready to closeout and contest the initial catch-and-shoot 3.

#0 Jonas Aidoo: 6’11” 234 lbs, Freshman Forward

1.0 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 0.1 apg

Backup forward playing in the absence of Olivier Nkamhoua. Big, physical presence. Will face-up to shoot the jumper out to 18 feet. Need to be there and get a hand up to give a hard contest. Mostly going to ballscreen and set downscreens when he is in there. Look for him to slip and slip the downscreen. Right hand, left shoulder inside. Crashes the offensive glass. Box out!

#15 Jahmai Mashack: 6’4″ 196 lbs, Freshman Guard

0.8 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 0.4 apg

Physical, athletic wing. Will shoot the 3, but more aggressive as a driver. No right hand drives! Wants to attack your closeout off the dribble. Closeout under control with choppy feet just ready to throw a hand up if he shoots it. Stay between him and the basket. Very aggressive on the offensive glass. 11 offensive rebounds in very limited minutes. You must be physical and put a body on him on the perimeter. Will fly in to rebound. Box out!

Tennessee Volunteers Offense

The Tennessee Volunteers have thrown up some real clunkers offensively this season, but of late they have played their basketball of the season. After playing much of the season as a below-average three-point shooting team on very high volume, the Volunteers have completely turned things around over the last month. They now are a full percentage point above the national average in terms of three-point percentage and have the 30th rated offense according to KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric.

Back at Rupp Arena on January 15th, Tennessee was very good offensively. They made 11 of 23 three-point attempts, shot over 57% from two-point range, and put up 79 points. However, they just happened to run into a buzzsaw as the Wildcats played their best game of the season and hung 107 points on the scoreboard. A similar performance on the offensive end by the Vols will likely lead to a much different result tonight at Thompson Boling Arena.

Coach Rick Barnes has really focused on running their secondary actions more and more of late to force early ball movement and spacing. That seems to have paid dividends with the improved shooting from beyond the arc. Also, since the injury to Olivier Nkamhoua, Tennessee has played more minutes with their smaller lineups. Having their hand forced to playing Josiah-Jordan James more minutes at the four has really helped the offense. Let’s step inside the film room to take a deeper look at the Tennessee Volunteers offense.

Secondary Staggered Away

This is far and away Tennessee’s favorite offensive action. A lot of their possessions will begin with this staggered double away from a secondary alignment. The ball gets reversed through the trail spot and they go to set a staggered double to the corner. The cutter can either back cut as he does here, curl the first screen, or come off the double. Since #30 James back cuts, #1 Chandler comes off the single downscreen and they are into their Motion. You can’t leave this much space for #2 Huntley-Hatfield at the elbow. Give a better contest than this!

Here is a look at the same action, only this time #30 James comes off the double. When the ball comes to the top of the key, the Vols like to come up and set the little flare screen for #25 Vescovi. You can see it in the previous clip as well. On this possession, #25 Vescovi gets the ball and the flare essentially turns into a downhill ballscreen. This is why you can’t get caught playing too far off of their bigs. You have to be up there to guard the ballscreens and take them away from 3.

Secondary Same Side

Tennessee can also keep it on the same side instead of reversing the ball in their secondary alignment. When they bring it back to the same side they downscreen into a handoff and then run off a baseline double. This is a good example of the need to stay tight to #25 Vescovi at all times. Pippen Jr. just gets lost here and ends up allowing a wide open 3 for an elite shooter. This cannot happen tonight.

Floppy to Motion

You can actually hear assistant coach Michael Schwartz calling out for the Vols to get into their floppy action in this clip. Something that has changed from our first matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers is how we will guard Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeigler. We still want to take away Chandler from 3, but we aren’t quite as concerned about him as before. However, we now are treating Zeigler as a shooter. You can’t help this much off him and give up the open 3.

Too Much Help

We gave up 11 3’s to Tennessee when they came to Rupp Arena. It got overshadowed because scored 107 points, but we weren’t particularly good on the defensive end. We absolutely have to do a better job of taking them away from beyond the arc. If they make 11 3’s again it is going to be very hard to win in Knoxville tonight.

Helping too much doesn’t just lead to 3-pointers. It can open up lanes for dunks like this as well. With Kellan Grady fighting over the screen and staying right on his hip, we will live with as many contested 15-foot jump shots moving to his left as #24 Powell is willing to shoot. There is simply no need for Jacob Toppin to step up and help this much. Grady had him. That decision led to a dunk for #13 Nkamhoua.

Tennessee Volunteers Defense

It can be easy to forget because of our offensive performance against the Volunteers at Rupp Arena, but Tennessee is still one of the best defensive teams in the country. They currently ranked sixth in adjusted defensive efficiency, sixth in turnover rate, and third in steal rate. Those live ball turnovers really help to bolster their offense and allows for their guards to create scoring opportunities in transition.

The Tennessee Volunteers are a man-to-man defensive team that really gets into the gaps. That is where they are able to get their steals. You will see them jump to the ball on every pass and aggressively help in the gaps to cut off driving lanes. We shot 11-18 from 3-point range in our first meeting and we will need a similar performance tonight. The Volunteers want to force jump shots. Especially without TyTy, penetrating their defense will be even tougher so confidently knocking down catch-and-shoot 3’s will be vital. The loss of Olivier Nkamhoua has really hurt their rim protection as well, so attacking the basket in transition or feeding the post in the half court can be very effective. Just don’t expect to be able to drive it in the half court without someone coming to cut you off and steal the ball.

Keys to the Game

• Take them away from 3! Shooting 38% over the last eight games and nearly 43% in the last four. No 3’s for #25 Vescovi, #30 James, #5 Zeigler, or #24 Powell. We have to hold them as a team to 8 or fewer 3’s.
• Take care of the ball. We only turned it over 12 times on our way to 107 points in our first meeting. They turned it over 20 times. If we limit ourselves to 12 or fewer turnovers again it will go a long way towards winning.
• Dominate the glass. There weren’t many offensive rebounding opportunities last time because we shot 67.9%. Tonight we will need 10+ offensive rebounds while holding them to less than 10.
• Go score 80. It won’t be easy on either side of the ball without TyTy Washington, but if we can score 80 it will help survive the ups and downs defensively. Tennessee will hit some shots because they have good players. We have to keep scoring and find a way to get to 80.