Tennessee basketball blew a 12-point second-half lead to Kansas, but that’s not the focus of head coach Rick Barnes.

Instead, he looks at the opening three defensive possessions. The Vols allowed an entry pass to the interior for Flory Bidunga, who put down a contested two, an open jumper from the short corner and another entry to Bidunga — but Felix Okpara swatted the shot off the backboard.

Kansas settled for one make on three looks, but that stretch of possession is what displeased Barnes the most in the Vols’ 81-76 loss that signaled the first blemish to conclude the Players Era Festival.

“Our three worst defensive possessions of the year was the start of that game,” Barnes said. “That’s probably the most disappointing thing. I mean, we didn’t come out doing the things that we’d been building to.”

But that’s the level of defense that Barnes, who has commanded five consecutive seasons with a top-five KenPom defensive rating, garners.

He expects perfection. And that’s the emphasis that came with his voice in Monday’s practice.

“I’m telling you, the first three possessions were as about as bad as we’d been defensively all year back-to-back-to-back,” Barnes said.

Tennessee went on to compile a better defensive half, at least statistically, to take a 41-34 lead into the break. The Vols held the Jayhawks to a 32% shooting mark and locked Bidunga down to a 2-for-11 shooting stride with eight consecutive missed shots.

The mindset, however, was not in the right place. Tennessee built upon the start, building the lead to 12 points following a Bishop Boswell 3-pointer with 15 minutes remaining — and that’s when Kansas came screaming back.

Kansas scurried to a 66-64 lead with five minutes remaining on behalf of a 25-11 run over 10 minutes of play. Despite the Jayhawks not making a shot over the final 4:16, the Vols could not climb back.

“Collectively, just got be locked in on details, scouting,” Okpara said. “And I know most of the guys were tired. Just doing your job when you’re out there, just playing someone else if you’re tired to sub in. So, I think we need to do a better job of that.”

That’s where Barnes had to rely to guys like Okpara. When losing staples like Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack, who brought the undeniable effort, to leading a team with nine new players — the effort is not something that Barnes can implement himself.

He has to have player testimony to do it for him.

“It goes back to the team where that’s leadership,” Barnes said. “Where I told the team, I said, ‘I don’t know if last year’s team could have beaten Houston, but I know one thing last year’s team would’ve won the second game against Kansas because they’d had a more of a mindset to do what we need to do.’”

Still, Tennessee ranks 13th in the country in KenPom defensive rating at 95.3. It’s not where Barnes wants his team to be, but now with Power Conference game film to evaluate, he’s able to better identify the flaws.

“Obviously, there’ll always be some things in every game you want to get better, but I do think the mindset’s getting better in terms of realizing that we’re going to try to defend the way we’re capable of,” Barnes said. “And we weren’t very good in the Kansas game. And got to get back to making sure we’re more consistent there, but we hope we can make the offense work for our defense too.”

It will be important as the Vols continue a stretch against power opponents, hitting the road for the first time this season against Syracuse on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

Another test awaits, but not one that is an initial threat on paper. The Orange ranks 177th in the country with 74.9 points per contest, shooting 46% from the field. Syracuse leading scorer Donnie Williams will be out for the matchup, adding a blow to an already low-scoring squad.

But that’s just the numbers to a box-score watcher. The Orange took the same Houston squad that Tennessee beat to overtime, and faced a gauntlet stretch in Vegas with Kansas and Iowa State as well.

“They’re a really good team, really aggressive team,” Okpara said. ‘We got to pay more attention to scouting. Just figure out how to shut them down.”

The Vols and Orange are set to square off ESPN+ for a 7 p.m. ET tip in the JMA Wireless Dome.