KNOXVILLE - Eighth-ranked Tennessee has had a recipe for success this basketball season.
Generally, when the Volunteers have won games - which has happened 27 times - they've done so by patient, effective field-goal shooting and sharing the basketball. In each of the team's four losses, those traits haven't been evident.
Tennessee shot 28 3-pointers in an 84-80 loss to Auburn in the regular-season finale, making only nine. Nearly half of the Vols' shots were from 3-point range - which according to coach Rick Barnes was not the game plan.
"We talked about it," Barnes said Monday. "You go back and look at the losses we've had, we've done that. I can' tell you why, because we keep talking about we should know who we are and what we are doing. I can't explain that. I really can't. We talked about what we needed to do, and we just settled. We shouldn't do that."
The Vols have averaged 3.4 more 3-point attempts per game in their four losses than in their wins. While that's not a big difference, consider that they've shot 3-pointers 39 percent of the time in the losses and taken nearly seven fewer free throws per game. The Vols have averaged 7.8 made 3s per game in their wins and losses, so it's not the shots they're making that have been the problem. It's been that they've sacrificed potentially better opportunities.
Tennessee shot a total of 67 free throws in the losses to Kansas, Kentucky, LSU and Auburn, while those teams shot a combined 122, making 88, in those games.
The Vols also averaged six fewer assists per game in the losses, so the ball movement that highlighted one of the most efficient offenses in the country in a 23-1 start - which included four weeks ranked No. 1 - has slipped somewhat in a 4-3 regular-season finish.
"It really goes back to the other three losses we had this year. They pretty much played out the same way, with too many 3s and not getting to the foul line enough," Barnes said. "There's a big discrepancy if you look at our four losses in terms of how little we got to the free-throw line and how many 3s we took that were shots we shouldn't be taking without at least probing and trying to get fouled.
"You look at the discrepancy at what our opponents shot at the free-throw line in the losses and what we did, it's a big discrepancy. That's from settling for 3s when you shouldn't."
Tennessee got back to practice Monday to prepare for this week's Southeastern Conference tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The Vols have a double bye and will face Texas A&M, Vanderbilt or Mississippi State.
The Vols were 4-0 against those three in the regular season, winning by an average of 12.8 points.
Turner 'pressing'
Barnes said Monday that he feels junior guard Lamonte Turner has been "pressing" some in games. The 6-foot-2 Turner has made only six of 25 shots in the past three games - just one of 15 from 3-point range. That lone 3, in the first minute against Auburn, was followed by seven misses.
"I think he's pressing too hard to make a 3," Barnes said. "Again, you go back to his games, we wouldn't have won the Ole Miss game without him and all his midrange action. I think it's simple. I think he's taken tough shots, and when you take tough shots, it puts more pressure on you to make a shot and in your mind you're thinking, 'I need to make a shot,' which is not the way you think to begin with. You just want to play good basketball.
"I've said before, players can shoot their way into slumps and put pressure on themselves by taking shots they shouldn't take. He's done that - there's no doubt he's done that - but he has to recognize that he's such a better basketball player than thinking he has to make a 3. Lamonte Turner can affect the game in so many ways if he never made a shot. He's become one of the best defensive guards in the country the way he can disrupt a game. The way he's making plays for his teammates, it just gets (hardest) for him when he starts trying to make shots from behind the arc. That's when he doesn't play as well."
To Barnes' point, Turner had a season-high six rebounds against Auburn and has averaged five assists in the past three games. It's just his scoring that's suffered.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.