University of Tennessee Athletics
Notebook: Alexander Building His Role
February 16, 2016 | Men's Basketball
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- When Kyle Alexander started his freshman season at Tennessee, he began his fourth year of playing organized basketball. Ever.
The forward from Milton, Ontario, Canada, grew up playing hockey, soccer and volleyball, the bounce of a basketball a somewhat foreign concept. But the athleticism that he gained in his other athletic pursuits proved to make his new sport even more natural to pick up.
That athleticism, despite the lack of experience, landed Alexander on the radar of Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes. What he has done more recently has landed him in the middle of the Volunteers’ starting lineup.
His attitude and willingness to learn has kept him there.
“What you see in him and what you like about him as a coaching staff is that he listens and he wants to do it,” Barnes said. “There’s a lot of things he’s learned well for a guy that has only played for two years. He knows he has a long way to go, he has to develop a feel for the game offensively.”
Alexander has played in 24 games with six starts. He tied a career high with six points at Missouri on Saturday and collected a team-best seven rebounds in 25 minutes.
“He has helped more than we probably wanted him to,” Barnes said of Alexander’s ever-growing role. “The reason he has played is that he’s trying to do what we need done at that position. That’s what you like about him, he’s trying to do the things we have asked that it takes to win. Sometimes he gets outmatched physically, but there’s no doubt that he has a tremendous future.”
He came to Tennessee willing to work, but also willing to wait his turn as he built his experience.
“As a freshman, you can never really expect too much,” Alexander said. “You can just hope that you make a impact on team and contribute a little bit. I’m definitely doing a little but more than I thought I could.”
Barnes realized how big that role may be while seeing Alexander during the summer preparing for his freshman season.
“We knew through the summer he was going to play more than probably he thought,” said Barnes. “We watched the way he ran the floor and the time he put in the gym.”
The process has not been without its bumps in the road. Alexander hit a wall in his development during the end of the summer, the result of acclimating to college life, intense workouts and a summer heat not usually seen back in his home north of the border. But it was just that, a bump, on the way to greater success as a player.
Alexander focused his efforts first on the defensive side, providing a solid presence in the low post on a team short on experience under the basket. He has blocked 24 shots on the season, including tying a Tennessee single-game record with six blocks against TCU.
“I think what he has tried to do is put his thought process on the defensive end,” Barnes said. “We’ve told him he needs to be more competitive in trying to score the ball on the offensive end and be a factor there.”
He has honed in on providing the same presence on the offensive end as he does on the defensive side.
“I’m working on my low post presence and my shots around the basket,” Alexander said. “That’s where my team needs something right now, someone that they can thrown the ball to on the inside. I’ve been making an impact on the defensive end, so if I can add something on the offensive end, then I could help my team even more.”
His play this year has been a glimpse of what could be to come once he fills out his 6-9 frame, something that has Barnes excited about for the future.
“As he gets stronger, it’s going to change so much about the way he plays,” Barnes said. “He wants to be a good basketball player, he wants to be a great teammate and he’s willing to put in the time that you have to do to not only do that but to be a good student too. Everything Kyle Alexander does, he takes seriously.”
Ready For The Wildcats
Tennessee heads to Lexington, Kentucky, Thursday night to face the Wildcats at Rupp Arena. Since the Volunteers’ 84-77 win in Knoxville on Feb. 2, UK has won three straight.
The Wildcats seem to have found their stride over that stretch, the lowest margin of victory coming in a 19-point win over Florida on Feb. 6. Kentucky defeated Georgia, 82-48, last Tuesday and South Carolina, 89-62, on Saturday.
“I thought they were playing really good basketball coming in for us,” Barnes said when asked if the earlier UT win pushed UK to success. “I said before that game that I thought they were starting to take on John’s (Calipari) personality and the way his teams play.”
As Tennessee makes the return visit, Alexander has seen the steps Kentucky has taken, but also saw the keys to success in the teams’ first meeting.
"Everybody was really hyped up about it and that does give us confidence because we know we can get the job done if we come out with the same energy that we did,” Alexander said. “We've definitely seen film [on Kentucky] from the last couple games and we noticed that they came out fighting and hitting hard with people. But I think that if we do the same thing we did last game that we could be surprised at what we do.”
Focused On The Inside
Tennessee made eight 3-pointers against Missouri, but the Volunteers took 27, a 29.6 percent clip. The numbers have Barnes focused on getting his team to move the ball and not shooting themselves out of games early on.
“When you’re going one-pass threes early in the game, those guys have to be like 45 percent 3-point shooters,” Barnes said. “We’re like 10-1 when we get to the foul line more than our opponent and you don’t get to the foul line making plays that.”
That is not to say he does not want his players taking advantage of open shots.
“We want all guys to shoot the ball when they're open and in the rhythm, but they have to understand the possession,” said Barnes. “They have to understand that any time a guy is open, you expect him to shoot it and sometimes when he might not be all the way open [but still shoot] is Kevin Punter. Everybody else, we should be working a little bit deeper into the clock.”
Looking For The Future
Alexander is one of three freshmen, along with Shembari Phillips and Admiral Schofield, making a significant contribution for Tennessee. With fellow freshmen Lamonte Turner redshirting and sophomores Ray Kasongo and Detrick Mostella also making contributions, the future has Alexander fired up.
"It's really exciting to think about what the future can hold for our team,” Alexander said. “We have a great recruiting class coming in. Coach did a great job with the recruiting and everybody on our team right now that is going to be coming back next year is doing a great job developing their skills. Admiral has been really impressive, Shembari in the last couple games has done a great job playing his position. So I think that next year we could do something really special.”
Alexander is ready to lead the group of younger guys with the continued development led by the coaching staff.
“Since they day I got here they've told me what they expect from me, they told me what they want from me, and they're really helping me and pushing me along the way,” Alexander said of the staff. “I just need to do what I've got to do.”
