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Analyzing Tennessee’s defense as it’s set to begin conference play

Related Topics: Rick Barnes, Tennessee, Ed Knecht

The old adage goes something like “defense wins championships,” right?

Well. that’s not been the case for Rick Barnes and the Vols. Still, defense is and will continue to be how UT wins games. So with conference play kicking off in a few days, I thought we’d take a look at Tennessee’s defense so far this season.

The Vols are currently 10-3 and riding a six-game winning streak since their three-game losing skid. A “good loss,” is essentially an oxymoron, but UT fans have come to expect rigorous non-conference schedules under Rick Barnes. And right now, the teams Tennessee lost to — Purdue, Kansas and UNC — are all ranked 17th or higher in Bart Torvik’s team rankings and have a combined five losses in 40 games.