Tennessee forward Lew Evans (21) shoots as Chaminade center Nate Pollard (45) defends in the first half during an NCAA college basketball game in the Maui Invitational Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)KNOXVILLE - Lew Evans was the latest summer arrival of Tennessee's basketball newcomers, but the graduate transfer from Utah State was around long enough to get a gauge of his freshman teammates.
Count him among the many pleasantly surprised by the play of the Volunteers' rookies so far.
"Going through the summer with all these guys, you kind of saw a little of it," Evans said before Friday's practice, "but the way these guys compete, that's the biggest surprise for me. How hard these guys play, you'd expect it being a younger guy, just to play hard to get out there and have minutes.
"The other thing is how comfortable they are out there. When I was a freshman I was scared. I messed up all the time. These guys just go out there and play hard, and they're confident in what they're doing."
Tennessee will need the confidence in its toughest game of the season at seventh-ranked North Carolina today.
The Vols were 1-11 in true road games last season, and though this team is younger with three freshmen (Jordan Bowden, Grant Williams and John Fulkerson) in the starting lineup and another potential freshman starter (Jordan Bone) out with an injury, perhaps their fearlessness will lead to better play away from Thompson-Boling Arena.
"I don't know," second-year coach Rick Barnes said. "I think if you're going to be a good road team, you've got to be a really, really good defensive team. I think we're getting better there. I don't think we're where we need to be, but last year we had a hard time guarding people consistently.
"I don't know what we're going to be. I just know that I'm just concerned about practice today and getting better, and we'll play that game and learn from that game and keep trying to build. I do think these guys have built on (games).
"We had our best effort overall of getting on the offensive glass against Presbyterian but didn't do a good job, and we haven't done a great job yet, on the defensive boards in terms of being consistent enough to block out and go get the ball."
Tennessee's tallest challenge against the Tar Heels, who average almost 90 points per game, will be handling their size and athletic ability and staying poised when they grab momentum with their ability to score in bunches.
The Tar Heels rose to No. 3 in the Associated Press poll when they were beaten at Indiana, but prior to an 83-74 win against Davidson on Wednesday, North Carolina won every game by at least 15 points and four by at least 26.
The Vols are familiar with Davidson from having scrimmaged the Wildcats the past two preseasons, and many of the players watched the game in which Davidson trimmed a 16-point UNC lead to three with less than two minutes left.
"It's kind of like us playing against them in a way," Evans said, "because Davidson kind of runs the same offense as us. It's kind of similar in that way. They're a good team. They like to pound the ball inside and get it to their two big guys, so we've got to be able to play post defense and rebound the ball. I think rebounding is going to be a big key for us."
Tennessee is a 20-point underdog and has just a 4 percent chance of the upset according to ESPN's Basketball Power Index, but Barnes dispelled the notion of using the game as a mid-December litmus test.
"I don't want to learn anything else. I want to win," Barnes said. "We know our team and we know where we've got to get better. We've played enough games now that we have a pretty good bead on most of these guys. What we're looking for is a higher level of consistency and knowing what we're going to get.
"With shooting, some nights it falls and some nights it doesn't, but all the other things are what we want to see and know that we're going to get that every single night."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.