Within a recent 12-day stretch, Tennessee lost to Florida by 26 points and built a 26-point lead against Kansas, which is not quite the stability Volunteers sixth-year basketball coach Rick Barnes looks to maintain moving forward.
Tennessee improved to 12-3 with Saturday night’s 80-61 rout of the Jayhawks and will look to build off that performance during a Tuesday night trip to Ole Miss (7 on ESPN2). The Vols have lost two of their past three Southeastern Conference contests, including that heinous 75-49 showing in Gainesville on Jan. 19.
“I think you’re always concerned when you don’t do the things you feel like you’re capable of,” Barnes said Monday afternoon. “I also know the old saying in coaching that you’re never as good as you think you are and you’re probably never as bad as you think you are. We’re somewhere in the middle, probably, and the answer is that word ‘consistency.’ Can we get consistent with it?
“When we’ve had everybody healthy, I think we’ve been better, and I don’t think there’s any question about that, but we’re a good enough team that we shouldn’t get beat as badly as we did against Florida.”
Tennessee’s win over Kansas was friendly on the national landscape, as the Vols have returned to the top-10 in the NET rankings at No. 9 and jumped from No. 18 to No. 11 in the latest Associated Press poll. The preseason picks to win the league will look to enhance their 5-3 SEC mark against an erratic Ole Miss squad that is 8-8 overall and 3-6 in conference play.