How Tennessee basketball fixed turnover problems in current win streak

Is Tennessee basketball ready to stop getting burnt?

Rick Barnes certainly thinks so. Vibes are at a season high as the Vols (16-6, 6-3 SEC), who are seeking their fifth straight victory, visit Kentucky (16-7, 7-3) at Rupp Arena on Feb. 7.

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The Wildcats handed Tennessee its last loss before the four-game winning streak. The Vols had trouble closing halves to start SEC play, a fatal flaw that lead to an 80-78 comeback win for Kentucky on Jan. 17.

Barnes believes his team has finally learned its lesson. Trial by fire.

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“Maybe its just simply getting burnt so many times by going to the stove and getting burnt,” Barnes said about the team’s improvement at the end of halves. “I mean, when we went through it, we were really struggling. We just had no awareness… throwing the ball all over the place, bad shots or shots at the wrong time by the wrong players.”

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The Vols led Kentucky by 17 points with 3:25 remaining in the first half. The lead dwindled to 11 points at halftime after Tennessee failed to make a shot. The trend continued in the second half as Tennessee’s offense relied solely on free throws in the final five minutes of the game.

Freshman guard Amari Evans agreed with Barnes. He had one of his best games in conference play against Kentucky, finishing with eight points, three rebounds and a block in the loss.

“We need to play a full 40 minutes,” he said. “I feel like we probably played 27, 28 minutes last game and they took over at the end of the game. We can’t let that happen. We just got to play hard for the full 40 and hopefully we come out on top.”

Tennessee basketball learning to protect the ball

The Vols couldn’t stop committing turnovers to begin SEC play. They averaged 14.2 turnovers in their first five conference games. That number has decreased to 10.5 per game across the four-game winning streak.

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Untimely turnovers crushed Tennessee in its first bout with…

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Publish date : 2026-02-06 20:10:00

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