KNOXVILLE – Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes can point to recent history to make sure his Volunteers don’t have a letdown after an emotional week.
The third-ranked Vols host Southern Conference member Samford on Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Bulldogs are 10-2 with losses only at 15th-ranked Ohio State and in overtime against Belmont, which is receiving votes in both polls.
Tennessee has had its struggles against SoCon competition. Two seasons ago, the Vols lost 82-69 to UT-Chattanooga and narrowly escaped at East Tennessee State, winning 72-68 against former Tennessee assistant Steve Forbes.
Last season the Vols’ closest nonconference home win was 66-61 over Furman, a game they won by scoring the final five points. They also had an 84-60 win over Mercer.
“I think they know that,” Barnes said about the Vols’ respect for Samford. “We will go through our prep like we do every game. We don’t change our prep. We are transparent with what we need to do. We talk honestly about these teams. These guys have played enough teams knowing how hard every game can be if you’re not ready to play. They’re hard even if you’re ready to play.”
The Vols are coming off a week in which they defeated then-top-ranked Gonzaga in Phoenix and cross-state rival Memphis in an emotional road game. The challenge is avoiding a letdown, something Barnes and his staff can help by pointing to the defensive mistakes the Vols made against Memphis.
“I think we’ve done a really good job of keeping our focus no matter the opponent,” sophomore guard Jalen Johnson said. “We prepare for any game, no matter if it’s Samford or a big game, a big team. I think we really try to compete and push each other in practice.
“When we watched film of Memphis, we saw some stuff defensively we need to improve on. They scored 90-something points, so there’s some stuff to work on.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.