Tennessee will have nights when shots refuse to fall. Rick Barnes wants his team to have another way to win. For DeWayne Brown II, that message stood out while discussing the Volunteers’ preseason work against Xavier and Duke. Tennessee is still building chemistry. But its defense needs to provide a foundation as the regular season approaches. Brown pointed to a problem the Vols must address: keeping opponents from getting straight to the basket.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes yells during the Tennessee men’s basketball media day at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center on Oct. 6, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Tennessee Must Stop the Straight-Line Drives

“We get up a lot of blow-bys, a lot of straight line drives, so really our biggest main thing is just being able to stay in front of the ball and make people go east to west not north to south,” Brown said. That gives Tennessee a clear starting point.

When a defender gets beaten off the dribble, someone else has to help.…