Vols basketball 'brought back down' in loss after iffy practices

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Grant Williams could tell quickly Saturday night that something was off with Tennessee basketball.

To put it succinctly, the standout forward said the Vols just “weren’t locked in.” On a deeper level, Williams pointed to a lack of focus and a lack of toughness from the start against a sneaky Alabama team.

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The Vols never found their way back, and the end spoke to Williams’ assessment: They lost 78-50, dropping in a horrendous blowout that brought them crashing back to earth.

“I think this is something that we needed,” Williams said. “We rolled up a couple of wins, and I guess we started drinking the Kool-Aid. We just got brought back down to where we need to be.

“We’ve got to keep a level head and come out every game and compete. (Saturday night), we didn’t do that.”

No. 14 Tennessee (18-6, 8-4 SEC) was cruising before arriving in Tuscaloosa and taking a 28-point loss after losing five games by a combined 30 points entering Saturday. The Vols had won six straight and nine of 10, three of which were resounding blowouts.

But Saturday saw UT falter dramatically on both ends of the court after a pair of practice days that Williams said weren’t “the best.”

“Guys were frustrated or I don’t know what was going on,” Williams said. “We didn’t practice the way that we normally do. That translated to the court, I think.”

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On Friday, Vols coach Rick Barnes said practice Thursday was “OK, not great.” A day later, he expressed similar thoughts about Friday’s practice – although Barnes added he liked Tennessee’s preparation Friday night and Saturday.

“I didn’t think we were as good (Friday) in practice,” Barnes said. “I had some issues with some guys, a little bit — guys not understanding that it was time to go. …

“This time of year, I want practice to be short and sweet, to a point. Sometimes, when they don’t do that, they go longer than you want and, sometimes, it’ll be only one guy or be two guys.”

On Saturday, Tennessee’s issues went beyond one or two guys. Barnes was critical of the lack of competitive nature and play from his main lineup among the many issues in a showing Williams called “soft.”

Barnes rattled off lackluster guard play, poor ball-screen defense, inattention to the scouting report, settling for jump shots early and poor interior defense among the elements of the loss that irked him. He was especially critical of junior center Kyle Alexander’s play, calling it “lost and totally non-competitive” and likening its caliber to Alexander’s first game as a freshman.

Fittingly, Williams said addressing all the issues Tennessee had against Alabama will start in practice before South Carolina (13-12, 4-8) comes to Knoxville on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ESPNU). Saturday served as a stark reminder of what Barnes has preached often his season: The Vols aren’t good enough to just show up and beat a team.

His players, especially the starting group, were reminded of that as many of them spent the final minutes against Alabama on the bench. It was embarrassing, Williams said, to watch from the sideline late in a hefty defeat in which the Vols got their “tail kicked the entire night.”

“It’s something that we have to address as a team and also something that we have to bring up every now and again,” Williams said. “This next practice will define where our mind is at. We will see how that goes.”