Why Tennessee basketball coach ripped the Vols after ugly exhibition loss vs Xavier

Tennessee basketball was slow getting out of the gates to start the 2026-27 season.

In their first exhibition game, the Vols suffered an ugly 86-70 loss to Xavier at Food City Center on Oct. 15. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes was disappointed with the poor defense and rebounding. Luckily for the Vols, this loss doesn’t count.

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“I’d rather get exposed now than in a week, two weeks,” Barnes said. “Because we did not respond to the adversity at all.”

Here are three takeaways from the Vols’ loss to Xavier.

What’s to blame for Tennessee’s poor second half defense?

Xavier averaged 1.5 points per possession in the second half while shooting 70.4% from the field and 57.1% from 3-point range. As the Musketeers hit open shot after open shot in the second half, Tennessee didn’t execute adjustments well enough.

“They started helping (on shooters) so the wide open big man was open in the middle,” Xavier point guard Tru Washington, who finished with 12 assists, said. “I was just hitting him.”

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Xavier’s strong shooting was made possible by repeated missed assignments from Tennessee players. The Musketeers had already played a scrimmage against Dayton and coach Richard Pitino said that was one reason why his team looked better than the Vols whose 13 new players were in their first game together.

But Barnes thought it was a lack of effort, not chemistry or communication, that led to the defensive lapses.

“How many times did we switch out just to put a guard in the post?” Barnes said postgame. “I thought some guys let their offense dictate their effort on the defensive side. But we just did some uncharacteristic things that we’ve talked about for too long. I don’t care if these guys have ever played together or what.”

Why Tennessee couldn’t match Xavier’s scoring runs

More than three quarters of this game was played with the score inside of single digits. Neither team could string together enough stops and scores to put the other away, until the final nine…

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Publish date : 2026-10-16 04:00:00

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