The No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers believe their field-goal accuracy is on the upswing as the Southeastern Conference portion of their schedule starts Wednesday afternoon at Ole Miss.
Tennessee has not played since last Wednesday’s 86-44 blowout of Austin Peay, when the Vols (10-2) were led by senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua’s 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting and senior guard Santiago Vescovi canning all five of his 3-point attempts in adding 18 points. The Vols shot 56.3% against the Governors, but are shooting just 41.8% this season, which ranks 295th nationally.
“I think we’ve become a lot smarter with how we play in our shot selection,” Nkamhoua said Tuesday on a Zoom call. “We’ve really gone to playing inside-out, whether that’s with drives or posting up, so that we’re getting more 2-point attempts instead of just 3s, and that’s helping us with our field-goal percentages.
“We’re also getting better 3-pointers off of rhythm instead of shooting them fast and shooting them in a rush.”
Wednesday’s contest in Oxford has the unique tip-off time of 5 Eastern on the SEC Network.