One week away from their regular season opener against No. 15 VCU in Annapolis, Maryland, the Tennessee Volunteers will close out the exhibition portion of their schedule on Saturday when they host Lenoir-Rhyne.
In the first exhibition against the No. 2 NAIA team in the nation, Pikeville, the Vols struggled out of the gates, failing to secure their first lead until the 9:19 mark in the first half.
While Lenoir-Rhyne doesn’t pose as much of a threat as Pikeville, who had six players with Division I experience, Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall isn’t overlooking the South Atlantic Conference opponent.
“They are not quite as athletic, or as physically talented as Pikeville, but they are a team that is well coached,” Tyndall said. “They are going to be very tough. They are going to share the basketball and they shoot it pretty well from the perimeter.”
And while not mentioned by name, the perimeter player Tyndall most likely had on his mind was junior guard Will Perry.
One of two returning starters from last year’s Lenoir-Rhyne squad, Perry averaged 13.1 points per game during the 2013-14 season, shooting 44.9 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Defensively against Pikeville, the Vols were solid, limiting the Bears to just 35 percent shooting, but struggled to contain K.K. Simmons, who drained seven 3-pointers on his way to a 30-point performance.
The main focus for the Vols this week in practice, however, has been taking better care of the basketball.
Against Pikeville, the Vols turned the ball over 18 times while only recording 17 assists, falling well below the 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio Tyndall expects in every game.
“It’s always a point of emphasis,” junior guard Kevin Punter said. “If you want to win at any level, especially this level, you can’t turn the ball over. We had 18 turnovers and a lot of them were unforced. When you have unforced turnovers, you can’t really expect to win the game.
“We got to clean that up, and we are going to clean that up and we’ll be just fine.”
Following Monday’s contest, Tyndall said it was the worst he ever felt “in regards to the flow of he game,” because of the constant in-and-out rotation the Vols currently have. In total, 11 players played in that contest, and each of them scored.
“I’m in a dilemma because I have 11 guys who are practicing the right way,” Tyndall said. “I have 11 guys that have been coachable. They are working hard and so many guys are basically even, it’s hard to make a decision … So all of them will play again Saturday.”
Tyndall did mention, however, that junior guard Devon Baulkman has a shoulder injury, which may prevent the Gulf Coast State College transfer from playing against Lenoir-Rhyne.
A win Saturday against the Bears will extend UT’s winning streak in exhibition games to 11. It would also improve Tennessee’s all-time record in exhibition games to 73-18.
Tipoff between the Vols and the Bears inside Thompson-Boling Arena is scheduled for 7:02 p.m. EST. The contest can be streamed online on SEC Network+.
