Barnes discussed what went well for his team, why he went with Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer to end the game, why the defense performed so well, Tennessee’s offense missing easy shots and the impact of Josiah-Jordan James.
Here’s everything Barnes said following the win:
On getting to the free throw line and John Fulkerson’s impact:
“Well, we have a different team in terms of we do think that we’ve got multiple guys that can drive the ball. And we haven’t had a lot of that the past couple years. We’ve played two teams now that, for foul trouble reasons, have had to go to zone probably more so than they both want to play. We haven’t had a lot of time to work against a lot of of different types of zones. But today is what we simply said was we’re going to attack, we’re going to get in there. We missed some shots that we feel we normally make. We felt like we turned down some shots from the perimeter, but yet we talk about it a lot. We want our team to have an identity of rebounding. That means getting a good shot up on the glass and going to get it. Trying to get multiple shots at it.
“Then coming down the stretch, Fulky did do a good job. He wasn’t very good early. He wasn’t locked in defensively at the start of the game. But blocking out, I took him out early because he didn’t block out. I think that’s something we said we’re going to hold everybody accountable. You’re going to block out. We’re going to rebound the ball. We subbed a couple times today for guys that we’re going the other way before we had the ball. (Fulkerson) did answer coming down the stretch.
“I think our guys understand what we’re trying to do at the end of the game, in the last two games. We were able to make the free throws. We did a good job taking care of the ball, but there were a couple of them that we gave them that turned into Pick 6’s. There’s nothing we can do with that. You take away three or four plays defensively, gambled in the backcourt and let them go all the way, those turnovers, overall I would say we were pretty good defensively. We played hard defensively without fouling.”
On sophomore guard Josiah-Jordan James’ ability to rebound:
“One, he’s good at it. And he’s made a conscious effort to do that. I thought EJ Anosike came in the game and gave us some of that, where he came back and he kept the ball alive. He really did a good job with it. We want to get Olivier (Nkamhoua) doing that. Once we’re able to get each guy going, maybe you can add getting Uros (Plavsic), where they understand the roles they have to play. You think about our front line, we have three guys that come off the bench that that’s their No. 1 job, to take rebounding to a different level.
“Yves, today, I thought Yves did a nice job making some fix-it plays. I think he had a few blocks today, where he cleaned up plays there. But overall it was a good defensive effort. But again, the guards have to rebound. We’re going to be most lethal in transition when our guards come down and rebound. And that dribble-outlet is really hard to guard, and pass ahead. When we get things going, that’s when we’re really at our best, when our guards are rebounding.”
On playing five-star freshmen guards Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer more against Cincinatti:
“Just playing. Like I said the other night, it was the first time we had our bench together. Couple things: We didn’t want to put them in a situation right off the bat where we could lose them confidence wise. But as a coaching staff, we’re still trying to fight through this ourselves without an exhibition game. Up to this point we’ve played two games. We knew, we just made up our mind, we were going to to go early because last game, it was me, I’m in charge of those subs, we waited maybe a little bit too long. One thing about it, you get a run like we had the other night against Colorado, the key is can you sustain when you get to the bench. I think we waited too long because tonight we did the multiple substitutions where we put both of those guys in at one time. It’s going to help all of them.
“If we can keep those minutes down around 25, 26 for everybody, and if everybody can be productive in those minutes, it’s going to help everybody. It was just a matter of still us trying to figure it out ourselves as a coaching staff, the best way to get some kind of rotation going. And it might mean changing the lineup in the future, starting a different way, seeing if we get guys coming off the bench, playing a different role. I think one of the key positions is that sixth and seventh guy coming off the bench. That first-line perimeter guy coming in and that first-line on the front line, that first sub, the sixth and seventh guys are really important, that they come in and take it to another level. Not maintain it, but see if they can take it to another level. Again, I thought EJ did that tonight defensively. I thought his energy and his burst helped us. When the two young guys came in, they did a good job.”
On where he thinks Tennessee improved most from game one to game two:
“Rebounding certainly was one of them, but the other was taking care of the ball. We only had 11 turnovers, if I’m looking at this right. But they were critical. Josiah had three of them. I told him, he’s played. And he did a lot of really good things, he did a lot of really good things. But he’s a guy that I think should never turn it over. We held the ball too long a couple time in their double teams, but the fact that we rebounded better, we got our turnovers down. But tonight they got more off those turnovers than Colorado got the other night. When we look at it, our turnovers led to some really easy (points). I haven’t looked at it yet, but I’m sure they had some transition points, outscored us, because of those turnovers. There’s no defense for it. Those are ones we can’t give up.”
On Tennessee needing to lean on the defense to win the first two games of the season:
“We’re a better shooting team than we shot tonight, but I told them tonight proves that on nights when we don’t shoot it, we still have a chance to win if we play that kind of defense without fouling, are aggressive getting to the free-throw line and those type of things. Two games in a row, coming down the stretch we have defended very well, and on the other end, we’ve executed and played through the person we need to play through. We’ve made some good plays there and gotten it to the right people at the end of the game that are going to get fouled. I think two games in a row our defense has been stellar in terms of getting the stops we need. We want to get 3-4 consecutive stops at the end, but if you can do that fouling is what you want to do knowing that they’re being aggressive, so you work hard trying not to give up those straight line drives or one-pass 3s. They do good stuff. The two teams that we’ve played run really good offensive sets and the different things they do put a bind on your defense.”
On if the offensive struggles would be more concerning if they weren’t getting good looks:
“We turned down shots, and you can ask anybody in that locker room, I’m upset with guys when they don’t take open shots because I think we can rebound the ball. The other night we got hesitant and turned down shots, and we showed them that. We have to shoot it. We missed some that you know you have to make, like the start of the second half. Fulky’s two to start the second half weren’t great, balanced shots and they went down and made a couple of layups — I think they scored three straight layups coming out of halftime and we missed three or four of them. The fact is, we cannot turn down open shots. These guys spend too much time in the open gym working on shooting to be hesitant, but some of that I think you have to give credit to Colorado and Cincinnati because they have gone zone against us, and because of the stops and starts, we’ve spent a total of maybe 15 minutes working against a 1-3-1. We spent more time prior to our stoppage against a 2-3, and the other night we had looks at the basket, but we were maybe not in the space we wanted. We had forced one shot the other night against the 2-3 and we didn’t make any of them, but today, I just liked the fact that these guys were driving the ball hard. We had some looks and we didn’t make them. We’re going to make them, but again, it shows that we don’t have to shoot well to win basketball games because we’ve won two games against two really good basketball teams and not had great shooting nights.”
On the availability of freshman forward Corey Walker and sophomore forward Drew Pember:
“Both of them would have been guys that we probably would have put in that category, but we never decide on who we were going to redshirt until the season gets going really. But with this year, I don’t know if we’ll decide any of that because who knows what happens with the COVID. We have to show up and play with seven guys, so we have to have everybody ready. It’s a free year, but both of those guys, as of today, are totally cleared with the protocol.”
On Tennessee’s ability to finish games strong:
“I like to think that we can do that because we have enough experience and enough guys who have been in high-level games the last couple of years. Certainly Yves and Fulky have been there a lot, and Josiah played a lot of minutes and Santi got a lot down the stretch. The real key is, as we continue to figure this rotation out, I think every guy is going to benefit from playing 26, 27, 28 minutes, somewhere in there, and if you do that, now you expect to finish strong. You expect to be able to have the energy at the end of the game. When you’re playing 32 to 36 minutes, it’s hard at the end of games, and a lot of that you get through with emotion, but the fact is, if we can keep these minutes where we need to keep them, I would expect us to be a strong team on both ends physically where we’re able to defend, rebound, run and hope we can break it loose. The runs were all created by defense, and I think we brought the energy there, and we’re going to have to be able to that. We have a chance to be a really outstanding defensive team if we can just manage these minutes the right way.”
On how much Colorado and Cincinnati switching defenses has messed with the rhythm of the offense:
“I don’t think that there is any question that the rhythm of the game where tonight they might go man to zone or vice versa, keep s you off rhythm, We’re going to learn from it. We’ve had to learn it where it counts with the lights on. I do think a little bit of our rhythm got broken, but I think we have one set that we know we can run against anything, and it’s predicated on guys simply making plays. At halftime, the coaches were talking about what we need to do, and I just said, ‘I want those guys to be aggressive and get into those gaps and let them make plays.’ No one on our team is selfish. Guys are going to make the right plays and try to do the right things. We missed some shots that I truly believe we’re going to make at a high percentage over time, but the rhythm has been broken the last couple of games, and that’s something we can learn from.”
