How Tennessee basketball plans to end SEC slump against Kentucky

Rick Barnes didn’t see Tuesday night’s clunker against Auburn coming from his Tennessee basketball team.

The aftermath featured a “more detailed and specific” film session and extra defensive work in practice, junior center Kyle Alexander said. It was tough — but those sessions tend to be, Alexander said — and players had a necessary heart-to-heart to address the sudden slump to open SEC play.

Then the Vols got back to work to prepare for Kentucky’s trip to Knoxville, with Barnes unsure if he will see a different team on Saturday than the one he saw in the past two games.

“I didn’t see that coming before Auburn,” Barnes said. “So I have no idea. I wish I could read it all. If I could read it all, if I could I would probably sleep a lot better.”

The No. 22 Vols (9-4, 0-2 SEC) are working on regaining the identity they held early in the season — one of toughness and strong defensive play.

Both Alexander and Barnes commented on the way the defense has not been up to par. Alexander believes the Vols were close to where they wanted to be defensively early in the season, but have slipped and allowed 95 and 94 points in their first two league games.

“I think that needs to be our focal point again,” Alexander said.

More:UT Vols' immaturity among many issues, Rick Barnes says

Barnes outlined the need for the Vols to get back having everyone do their job with effort, intensity and edge — and not taking anything for granted.

“If nothing else, I would hope they’ve learned if we don’t play that way that we’re not a very good basketball team,” Barnes said. “I hope they realize that. We need everybody. It’s not just one guy, two guys, three guys. We need everybody to be able to do their job for us.”

The Vols also have struggled rebounding of late, especially on the defensive end as Auburn grabbed 22 offensive rebounds and turned them into 28 second-chance points Tuesday.

Barnes referred to Tennessee’s rebounding efforts against the Tigers as “ball watching,” while the Vols too often were caught between going to rebound and not boxing out as they failed to make the right play.

“The fact is it’s just the details,” Barnes said. “I think we all realize it’s a really fine line between winning and losing. If we don’t do the things that we can control, it’s going to put us in a bad situation.”

The schedule doesn’t get easier now for the Vols with the No. 14 Wildcats (12-2, 2-0) coming to town. Barnes shot down the notion that there’s any added emphasis on winning Saturday just because Tennessee is 0-2 in SEC play.

Alexander did the same, before he said the Vols still have confidence, part of which surely stems from their two-game winning streak against UK in Knoxville.

“I think this team can beat any team that we put our minds to,” Alexander said. “Any team that we prepare to beat, I think we can get them.

“Yeah, we have beat Kentucky at home the last couple times and the fans have been great. I think as long as they come out, we have just as good of a chance as any other team, any other year.”

Bone battling flu

Jordan Bone had his third high-scoring game in a row Tuesday against Auburn.

But early on, Barnes thought something was off with his sophomore point guard. He was right: The Vols learned after the loss that Bone has the flu. He missed practice Thursday and Friday.

Bone is averaging 9.3 points this season. He is averaging 17 in his past three games, while shooting 55.6 percent from 3-point range in the past two games.

"I knew right when the game started, there was something there because he had really made some really good steps," Barnes said.

Sold out again

On Wednesday, Tennessee announced the game against Kentucky is a sellout. It will be the second one this season at Thompson-Boling Arena, joining UT's 78-73 loss to North Carolina on Dec. 17.

Tennessee ranks No. 11 in the country with an average home attendance of 14,944.