Why Rick Barnes made scoring Tennessee basketball's priority in transfer portal

Why Rick Barnes made scoring Tennessee basketball's priority in transfer portal

It's no secret that Tennessee basketball wanted to drastically improve its offense the second the transfer portal opened on April 7.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said that was the case as the Vols finalize their roster for the 2026-27 season.

"We felt like we wanted to get more scoring as quickly as we could," Barnes said at the Big Orange Caravan stop in Chattanooga on April 28.

The Vols targeted offensive production within their six transfer additions. Each player averaged double-digit scoring with their previous teams.

Belmont guard Tyler Lundblade, Cal guard Dai Dai Ames and VCU guard Terrence Hill Jr. were all the top options on their teams before coming to Tennessee. Forward Jalen Haralson was Notre Dame's second-leading scorer, and both Loyola (Chicago) center Miles Rubin and Kennesaw State forward Braedan Lue averaged over 10 points.

The class, though, runs small. Rubin and Lue join returning forward DeWayne Brown II as the only frontcourt players.

It's a stark turn from last season, when Tennessee embraced an identity of physicality, defense and an imposing frontcourt to surround senior Ja'Kobi Gillespie and freshman Nate Ament, who declared for the NBA draft.

Barnes, though, isn't worried about the lack of depth.

"This team will develop its own identity," he said. "Even if we had a lot of people back, I think that team would have had to develop its own identity because I think you do that every year. We have an idea of how we want to play every year and we have a system that we have in place. But that system, we've tweaked it going on 12 years now. It's all been different.