Tennessee basketball fans, by now, are a bit spoiled by success. That’s no knock on them. It’s a compliment to their coach.
Rick Barnes’ Vols have been so routinely good for so long, it’s only natural that’s become so … routine.
Beating mighty Houston on Nov. 25 in Las Vegas was sweet, earning revenge from last season’s NCAA Elite Eight loss. But it didn’t move the needle all that much in terms of perception. Barnes’ Vols usually win the early showdowns. March can be a different story, as we’ve learned, but right now? This time of year? Peak Barnes, baby. Just count on it.
What happens, though, when that’s no longer the case?
Looks like Tennessee’s program is about to find out.
Three games – and three losses – since that win over Houston have suggested that this latest edition of Vols basketball might not be so good. Not yet, anyway, and certainly not by Barnes’ standards.
That was clear during an unnerving 75-62 loss to Illinois on Dec. 6 at Bridgestone Arena, and it was even clearer and more unnerving when Barnes spent most of his postgame press conference bemoaning weaknesses of a team that doesn’t “understand exactly what goes into winning.”
What did Barnes mean by that?
“Little details,” he said. “Not listening coming out of timeouts. Not doing what we say we’re going to do. … Finishing plays. And free throws. We were 8-for-18 from the free-throw line.”
It wasn’t a rant, but it was unfiltered. Barnes didn’t score like a coach who doesn’t like his team, necessarily, but he sounded like a coach who doesn’t trust his team.
In other words, “They know what they are supposed to do, but they’re not doing it. That’s the best way I can tell you,” Barnes said.
Look, Tennessee is 7-3 and ranked No. 13 nationally. Prior to this game, it was No. 16 nationally in Ken Pomeroy’s analytics rankings, and the Vols’ consecutive losses have been against Kansas, at Syracuse and now to Illinois. Far too early for panic.
But this latest defeat, as evidenced by Barnes’ exasperation, was concerning in a way that few nonconference performances have been for Tennessee on his watch. Especially since this game should’ve been a home game, being that it was up the road in Nashville.
Illinois fans, though, turned out in force. They were more impactful than Tennessee fans. They were louder. More passionate. They weren’t more numerous, but the crowd split was a heck of a lot closer than you’d have expected for the Big Orange playing on a Saturday night in their own state.
And then there was the game itself.
The stronger team down the stretch was not Tennessee, which shot 36.9% and had only one player – former Belmont guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (15 points) score in double figures, and it took Gillespie 20 shot attempts (he made six) to do it. UT’s star freshman forward Nate Ament shot 4-of-14 and scored only nine points.
These Vols aren’t rebuilding. They have talent, but they appear to be searching for heroes they may not possess. Zakai Zeigler isn’t walking through that door. Neither is Chaz Lanier or Dalton Knecht.
Gillespie and Ament accounted for 34 of Tennessee’s 65 shots against Illinois. Neither was on the team last season, and neither has yet proven reliable when his team is most in need of a bucket.
With 9:38 remaining, just before the Illini seized control for good, the Vols – down 53-49 – emerged from a timeout and Vanderbilt transfer Jaylen Carey took the shot. He missed it, grabbed the rebound and got fouled. Next possession, Carey missed another, grabbed the rebound, and had it stolen from him.
Then Ament and Gillespie each missed shots. At the 6:53 mark, Illinois led 63-52.
Ball game, basically.
The Vols lacked composure during this stretch. This reflected how Tennessee, as Barnes noted, also lacks scoring balance and leadership. Not about playing hard, Barnes said, “but they are not playing smart.”
“It’s concerning when you don’t play the way you practice,” he said. “That’s what is concerning, and that’s what I’ve said, and we still didn’t do it. … You don’t want surprises, but right now, we are who we are. And the fact is we are inconsistent.”
Nothing that can’t be fixed, Barnes added later. But he will have to fix it, since “it’s not there yet the way it needs to be.” It won’t be so easy for Tennessee basketball this season. It seldom has been easy, really. Barnes just makes it look that way.
This Tennessee season might be different, though, and not in a good way.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
