KNOXVILLE - Kyle Alexander and his Tennessee basketball teammates were able to see a lot of things on video that they did well last week.
They also were able to see how close they were to having an even better outcome.
The now sixth-ranked Volunteers lost in overtime to second-ranked Kansas in the NIT Season Tip-Off final Friday night in Brooklyn. The Vols led by three late in regulation but lost reigning Southeastern Conference player of the year Grant Williams to fouls with 1:24 remaining.
From that point the offense struggled, appearing stagnant during the overtime period as the Jayhawks pulled away for the 87-81 victory.
Tennessee, which had defeated Louisville to advance to the championship game, is back at home tonight, facing Eastern Kentucky at 6:30 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"It was a tough loss," Alexander said prior to Tuesday's practice. "We expected to win, but there were some learning points. We have to be able to finish games, and we have to be tough for 40 straight minutes. We got to see where we're at, but it was disappointing in the locker room after the game. Four years ago we were 15-19 and not expected to do much, and now we're talking about being able to beat the No. 2 team in the country.
"It shows how good of a coach (Rick) Barnes is, and it shows how hard we've worked."
Barnes felt the Vols came out with far too much emotion, which hurt their concentration on the little things in the game plan. Friday's game was a nationally televised event against a nationally historic program, which shows how far Barnes has brought the program since arriving in 2015.
But as a person who has been in those moments many times during his career, he understands the approach a team has to have to win such games - and the Vols didn't have it that night at first.
"Players can get emotional on a stage like that, and it's easy to get caught up in what's going on around as opposed to staying focused on the fact that we earned the right to be there, and now if you want to stay there you've got to fight to stay there," Barnes said. "I told the guys before the game that it would be a one-, two-possession game, and we didn't execute the last 90 seconds the way we needed to in regulation, not just on offense but on defense.
"That game showed us how consistent you have to be, and how fine a line it really is between winning and losing, especially when you're playing against a high-caliber basketball team. You have to execute the game plan and play with that kind of effort, emotion and concentration to do the job."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.