Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes and senior shooting guard Victor Bailey Jr. met with the local media over Zoom Thursday.
The Vols are 1-0 after defeating UT-Martin 90-62 to open up the season Tuesday night. Tennessee’s offense shined while its defense left something to be desired. UT made a program record 17 three-pointers in the win.
Sunday, Tennessee welcomes ETSU and old friend Desmond Oliver to Thompson-Boling Arena. Oliver is in his first season at the helm of the Bucs program after spending the last six years as Rick Barnes’ assistant at Tennessee.
“I’m excited for Des,” Barnes said. “From the time I got to know him his goal was to be a division one head basketball coach. He had the opportunity to interview for a number of different positions and ended up with just a terrific job at East Tennessee. I think he would tell you he’s really excited about his team. He has players coming back that have had great success. Looking at them, there’s certainly some things they’ll do that we do here but he’s also added some things that he likes himself. From a personal standpoint, I’m just really excited for Des and his family that he’s finally got the opportunity he worked long and hard for for a long time.”
Barnes also discussed his team’s need to improve defensively, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and more.
Bailey discussed what the transition was like moving to a more three-point heavy offense, his relationship with Oliver and what it’s like playing with Kennedy Chandler.
“He’s a very talented freshman,” Bailey said. “He’s going to continue to make big plays for us. He’s quick, he’s strong, he can finish at the rim and went four-for-four so he can also shoot the ball. He just does it all so he makes it easier on us and we’re going to try and do a good job of spacing the floor and making it easier on him.”
