Tennessee missed 27 3-point attempts Sunday afternoon in Knoxville.
Fortunately for the Volunteers, it was just an exhibition.
The No. 12 Vols fell 66-62 to No. 17 Indiana before a crowd of 13,351 inside the Food City Center, failing to replicate the exhibition success they enjoyed the past two seasons with wins over Gonzaga and Michigan State. The Hoosiers and Tennessee combined to make 43 shots overall and combined to miss 76.
“I told our guys the biggest thing I wanted to see was the effort we put on the defensive end, and I think the effort was there for the most part,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said in a news conference. “We just gave them too much with bad offense, but I think it’s important for this team to establish the type of defensive team we’re going to be. Offensively we were not very good.
“We had shots at the start that we need to make, but when we weren’t making them, our defense kept us in the game.”
Tennessee started senior guards Zakai Zeigler, Jordan Gainey and Jahmai Mashack, senior forward Igor Milicic and junior forward Felix Okpara. Milicic is a transfer from Charlotte and Okpara a transfer from Ohio State, with the 6-foot-11, 235-pound Okpara having spent three years of high school at Chattanooga’s Hamilton Heights.
Okpara tallied seven points, six rebounds and four blocks against the Hoosiers.
“This whole game was a learning process for us,” Okpara said. “We played a good team and had a lot of open looks. We’ve just got to make them, but I think this was a good game for us.”
The Vols led 26-25 after a first half in which the teams were a combined 3-of-31 from 3-point range. Tennessee extended its advantage to 41-35 four minutes into the second half as both teams heated up, but Indiana used a 10-0 run to lead 60-54 with 4:17 remaining and never trailed again.
Zeigler led Tennessee with 13 points but was just 2-of-10 from the floor, while Gainey added 12 and North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier 10. Lanier was 3-of-16, including 2-of-10 from 3-point range.
Malik Reneau and Myles Rice led Indiana with 21 and 20 points, respectively.
“We need more of these games. We really do,” Barnes said. “We’ve got a lot of improving to do before we open up.”
Tennessee, the reigning Southeastern Conference regular-season champion, will open Nov. 4 against visiting Gardner-Webb.
Odds and ends
The Vols outscored Indiana by five points in the 37 minutes Zeigler was on the floor and got outscored by nine in the three minutes he wasn’t. … Tennessee was 18-of-21 from the free-throw line for an 85.7% clip. … Barnes on Hofstra transfer Darlinstone Dubar playing just five minutes and 37 seconds: “He’s still trying to learn what we need defensively.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.