KNOXVILLE - It's possible there's nothing wrong with Tennessee's 3-point defense.
It's also possible opponents' proficiency from long range is a huge problem.
The answer likely lies somewhere in the middle.
The top-ranked Volunteers (23-1, 11-0 Southeastern Conference) have won 19 straight games entering Saturday's 8 p.m. EST game at No. 5 Kentucky (20-4, 9-2), with their latest extension of the program-record streak coming in Wednesday night's 85-73 win against South Carolina at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Gamecocks (12-12, 7-4) were yet another overmatched Tennessee opponent, with the Vols' biggest lead of the game 19 points.
However, South Carolina did make 14 3-pointers, its most this season and the most the Vols have allowed in a game this season. It's the eighth time this season an opponent has made at least 10 3s against Tennessee.
It's likely some of that success for opponents is due to defensive breakdowns by the Vols. It's also possible Tennessee opponents take a lot of 3-point shots because they see it as their only way of keeping pace with the Vols, who have averaged 85.4 points per game and a margin of victory of nearly 18 points in 2018-19. All of Tennessee's past 11 opponents made at least eight 3s against the Vols and six hit at least 10, but only Vanderbilt didn't trail by double digits in the second half.
South Carolina, which averaged 6.9 3s per game entering Wednesday, hit seven in each half in Knoxville and finished with two more 3-pointers made than two-pointers.
"I thought in transition we weren't very good, and then a couple plays when we were on an out-of-bounds play, we had preached switching and then we forgot what we were doing," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after Wednesday's game. "Some of them were covered, some of them weren't. They all bother you. They're going to make some of them, but it is the ones we gave up in transition and the ones we gave up off of offensive rebounds, which weren't as many as what we had given up, (that are most concerning).
"We still weren't as good as we needed to be guarding the 3-point line. They made the shots, we have to give them the credit. They made them."
Not all of the Vols' victories have been cruises, and they have answered challenges during their streak.
Down six with less than 90 seconds remaining at Vanderbilt on Jan. 23, they forced overtime and won 88-83 in the first game with their current No. 1 ranking. Four days before that, when Alabama guard John Petty got hot and scored 20 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half in Knoxville, he was shut down by Jordan Bowden over the final 10 as the Vols held on to win 71-68.
More challenges to Tennessee's defense are almost certainly ahead. Of the Vols' seven remaining regular-season games, six are against teams ranked in the top half of the SEC in scoring offense. Five are against teams ranked in the top half in 3-point percentage.
Senior guard Admiral Schofield believes a lot of the Vols' struggles are mental.
Those can be fixed.
"Honestly, Coach Barnes gives us a challenge pretty often," he said Wednesday. "We answer the call, but we kind of slack off on other things, so we have to find a way to put it all together. That's why I am excited, because our best basketball is ahead of us and our focus is really on tomorrow, preparing our bodies and our minds to correct what we did not do well tonight, and then getting back on the drawing board.
"As far as execution, it's just understanding what we have to take care of. I think the biggest thing for us is just mentally locking in for 40 minutes. We have to get better at that, especially when we have leads. We have had a lot of leads lately, so just have to lock in and really respect the game on another level."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.