Tennessee-Vanderbilt four-factor review

After Tennessee’s 58-46 win over winless-in-the-SEC Vanderbilt last night, you could see what looked like disappointment on the faces of the players. Beat writers were bracing for head coach Rick Barnes to express his own frustration in his post-game press conference.

But Barnes actually seemed pleased and unperturbed, as if he was grading based solely on his own narrow criteria. Last night’s game was an opportunity for the Vols to get hyper focused on the things they needed to fix about themselves, and when you look at those things, then yes, last night was encouraging.

Effective Field Goal Percentage

Tennessee’s offense is one of the best in the country in EFG%, but the Kentucky loss Saturday shined a harsh light on a concern that had been overshadowed by the team’s historical win streak: The Vols’ defensive EFG% is not good enough to enable the team to reach its ultimate goal for this season.

Kentucky shot 54.7% from the field and 38.5% from the arc against the Vols last Saturday. Against Vanderbilt last night, the Vols’ defense held the Commodores to 32.1% from the field and 30.4% from the three-point line. That’s still too high from three, and the offense had another off-shooting night, but Rick Barnes wasn’t concerned about the offense as much as he was pleased at the defensive success. Vandy’s 46 points was the lowest total for a Tennessee opponent since the first game of the season against Lenior-Rhyne.

Turnover Percentage

Tennessee had a significant advantage in the turnovers category heading into the game last night, but they failed to make anything of it. Vandy had 12 turnovers, but the Vols were uncharacteristically careless with the ball and gave up 11 themselves. This, along with the shooting troubles, is probably a big reason why they couldn’t put the game away until late.

Offensive Rebounding Percentage

We expected the Vols to have a slight advantage in rebounding last night, and they did, but it was indeed only slight. Tennessee had 9 offensive rebounds but only held Vandy to 8. On the defensive side, the Vols had a 31-25 advantage.

Consider this a mild success, although I wonder if they weren’t hoping for better.

Free Throw Rate

Vanderbilt’s biggest advantage on paper heading into the game last night was in its ability to get to the free throw line. This had to have been a major area of emphasis for the Vols, as it was one of the many things that killed them against Kentucky last weekend. The Wildcats went to the line 33 times to Tennessee’s 18. Vanderbilt’s resume in this category is actually better than that of Kentucky.

But last night, the Commodores only got to the line six times. That’s a huge success for the good guys, especially when you combine it with the improved defense. If you can defend that well without fouling, you’re in good shape.