After dropping three spots in the AP Top 25 despite remaining unbeaten, No. 11 Tennessee will try to find its shooting touch when it plays host to high-scoring Tennessee State on Friday in Knoxville.
In typical Rick Barnes fashion, the Tennessee coach did not mince words after a poor shooting night on Monday, even as his team completed a 70-47 victory over Radford.
“We were atrocious, really, on offense,” Barnes said.
Tennessee (2-0) shot 46.2% from the floor but was just 1 of 8 from 3-point range in the second half and 23.5% from distance in the game.
Shooting was expected to be a strength after the normally defensive-minded Barnes brought in players who were known for offensive prowess such as Juke Harris, a Wake Forest transfer who averaged 21.4 points last season.
Harris had six points against Radford and was just 1 of 9 from the floor. He had just seven points on 2-of-5 shooting in his Volunteers debut against Wofford last week.
“Offensively, the execution is not even close to what I know we’re capable of,” Barnes said. “And it looks like we’ve got too many guys that are too anxious to shoot the ball. I don’t think we’ve got a selfish guy on our team. I really don’t.
“I just think that we’ve got guys that have to understand that what we do works if we’ll make it work. But we’re just a little bit too hyper offensively.”
The Tennessee defense held Radford to 26.2% from the floor.
“I do want to see us continue to get better and better defensively,” Barnes added. “And I think these guys, they really are starting to understand why we need to do it on a night like tonight. … Our defense was good.”
Terrence Hill Jr. leads Tennessee with 17.5 points per game while DeWayne Brown II is at 10.5 points.
That strong Tennessee defense will be tested against Tennessee State (2-1), which enters with an average of 125.0 points scored over its past two games.
The Tigers were an NCAA Tournament team a year ago and have shown no problem thus far in putting the ball in the hoop.
The Ohio Valley Conference member blasted East-West 127-61 last week and rocked fellow Nashville school Fisk 123-73 on Monday.
All five Tennessee State starters tallied in double figures as Aaron Bradshaw had a game-high 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go with five blocked shots. Deondrea Lindsey poured in 16 points, while Arterio Morris totaled 15 points, nine assists and five steals.
Ty-Laur Johnson posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 assists plus six rebounds and five steals.
Second-year Tigers coach Nolan Smith relies on the leadership of his guards in Morris and newcomer Johnson, who joined the program after playing last season at San Diego following stops at Wake Forest and Louisville.
“(Morris) has been great, both are veterans,” Smith said. “Ty-Laur having 12 assists and Arterio having nine assists, and they only had four turnovers. That’s what you want from your two lead guards: Control of the game and getting guys involved.”
The routs came on the heels of Tennessee State’s 94-64 loss to Murray State to open the season.
