Tennessee basketball pulled a Houdini act at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens on Saturday afternoon, turning a 11-point deficit with six minutes left into a 85-79 road victory.
But that late push was only a part of the story. Tennessee led by as many as 14 points in the first half before an extended Georgia run pushed the Bulldogs way in front.
Following the win, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes discussed Dalton Knecht’s big night, the up-and-down defensive performance and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said postgame.
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On what went right and what went wrong for Tennessee in the win
“Well, one, it was an incredible, hard-fought college basketball game. We thought we had wore into them in the first half playing with the speed that we played with, but got to give them a lot of credit. They closed out the first half on a 9-0 run. Then they came out and went right at us. That was a 15-0 run. And we obviously had a foul trouble situation were dealing with, but you got to give them credit for putting us in that situation. And a great atmosphere. Both teams I thought played extremely hard, but obviously very proud of the fact, in the last six minutes, I think we’re down 10 maybe, and we just thought if we could get it to four with about four (minutes left) — could’ve got it there quicker, but we missed some free throws from the six- minute to the four-minute mark. But defensively in the last four minutes, what can you say about Jonas? Fifteen rebounds, five blocks. I thought Santi and Jahmai and ‘Z’, those guys defensively (played well). And I thought Dalton was really trying to lock in there defensively. And we just said to him in the timeout, hey, we will settle in, play aggressive defense, not put them on the line. We did that too much in the first half. They had, I think, 11 points and then 16 or so on the free-throw line. And so we got to guard without fouling. We switched a little bit with our ball-screen coverage and letting Jonas switch out and guard the guard. He did a great job with that. But just really proud of the way our guys executed, really on the defensive end. And obviously at the end of the game where we’re gonna play through Zakai, Dalton. Dalton, you guys have seen him know that when he gets that look in his eye, he can go do this. And he did. He did it. And but it was the defense that really got us back into the game.”
On how much better Dalton Knecht is at this point in the season after adjusting to opposing defense
“Well, he is. He’s getting better with it. But I think he owes it all to Jahmai (for) guarding him every day in practice and going at it and these other guys knowing how he’s being played. And some of it too is, I still think even though we’ve had some guys that maybe have struggled a little bit shooting it, I think there’s still a lot of respect for the people that he’s surrounded by.”
On the difference for Tennessee in the first 15 minutes of the second half versus the final five minutes of the game
“Stop fouling. And we were in a black coverage because we have so much respect for the guards getting downhill. And then a couple times it looked like the middle was wide open, but we were okay with them throwing it if we could get there and get behind the ball. But then we were over over tagging and letting them kick out and their guards do a good job finding it and they can shoot the ball. I told the team before the game, the last thing I said to them, I want you to know these guys are a really, really good offensive team. We’re going to have to guard without fouling. We didn’t do that in the first half, but coming down the end, I thought we did a much better job of finding the shooters, getting there and trying to work to stay in front of the ball out front, out top.
“And then trying to obviously finish it with rebounding the ball. And again, a lot of credit to Georgia. Mike White, he’s an unbelievable coach. He’s done an incredible job everywhere he is been. And I knew they were going to fight us every step of the way. And when they got down, they didn’t flinch. We got them down, they didn’t flinch, they came right back and really came out the second half and went right at us. And thankfully the last four minutes we were able to come out here with a win.”
On what it is about Dalton Knecht that makes him play so well on the road
“I have no idea. I don’t. When guys are good basketball players, good offensive guys, but I’ve always believed that guys that have success like this, it goes back to their training, their work ethic, their passion and love for the game. And again, Dalton’s one of those guys. You see him come back to the Food City Center (or) Pratt (Pavilion) every night. He’s going to be in there after practice. He’s one of those guys that puts his time in and when he gets going, I mean, he’s a confident player. He’s working really, really hard to try to become a better defensive player.”
On if he’s had a player excel on the road the way Dalton has
“Well, I did have Kevin Durant. So I saw it a bunch.”
On how those two compare, what makes them good on the road
“Mindset. It’s a mindset where, you know, short memory. Not afraid of the moment, willing to go make the big play and if they don’t, they’ve got a great ability to bounce back.”
On the difference for Jonas Aidoo compared to at Mississippi State, how encouraging it was
“Defensively, I mean, his length and what he does around the rim. I mean, he’s got a good quick jump, second jump when he wants to. Again, I keep telling Jonas that I think he’s going develop into one of the best post guys in the country. And I will say this— he needs to touch the ball more, early. And he and Tobe, I think missed maybe one shot in the first half. But we still need to work at finding those guys in those games. Like, the end of the half, I don’t think we scored the last four minutes, and I think in this league, I think you can expect this pretty much every night and just really proud of the way the guys finished the game.”
On how concerned he is with the week Josiah-Jordan James had
“Guys go through it. As you know, really from start to finish, he still would be considered our most consistent player. You go through this and the exciting thing about it is once we can put it all together. That’s what January’s about. And Josiah will be fine, but the fact is we’ve got guys on our team where we can get into our bench and there’s a lot of teams in our league would love to have some of the guys off our bench. And then (Jahmai Ma)Shack comes in and Santi(ago Vescovi) comes back in and I think Santi tonight was plus-20 when he was out there. He just impacts the game in a lot of different ways. And Jo did too. I mean, he did some things. He just struggled on the offensive end and that I don’t, again, as long as he’ll take good shots. And I thought for the most part tonight, his shots were good. Then I thought he started pressing, trying to drive the ball, getting himself in some trouble that he shouldn’t get himself in. But again, Shack went in and finished it out and did a great job.”
On what changes with the offense when Knecht is bringing the ball up
“As you have watched us all year, we have had a lot of guys bring the ball up. Just there at the end, we knew what we were doing, we knew how we wanted to play it and (just) trying to give him as much space. He’s a tough guy to guard because if you pick him up at half court, you’re really opening up the court and gives him room to go make plays. You go lower, pick him up, and if you go under, he did it tonight, he raised up, he shot it. So he’s a difficult guy to guard and he’s not afraid to try to get downhill and he’s gonna get better. Dalton’s gonna get better. Even offensively. He’s gotta keep understanding his spots on the floor, how far he can get down there and he’s gonna have to — we keep telling him he’s gotta continue to get better playing off two feet, but he’s obviously somebody that you’d rather reel ’em in as opposed to beg him to go get it done.
“Now he shot the air ball in the first half. That one bothered me ’cause we talked about it yesterday and that play was set up for him to drive the ball and he didn’t. But the next thing he needs to learn to do is call a timeout. He doesn’t understand I can’t call a timeout and I’m screaming at him, call timeout. And I’m sure he was thinking it might be a new play we put in or something, but he didn’t call it. But still, just a really great all around win.”
On the look that Knecht gets in his eye
“Where you could just tell he’s got a little bounce about him and we’ve seen it. We saw the very first scrimmage of the year against Michigan State where he likes the moment. He does. And one thing I think is happening for him too, is I think he’s getting himself in shape he’s never been in, in his life, because in the past, he didn’t guard anybody. The way he played defense, I could play it today, but now he’s starting to figure it out, you know, and understand how hard it is to be good at this game and how hard you gotta work on both ends.
“His teammates were really, again, encouraging him, because the very first play of the second half was on him. He came out, he wasn’t the alert, gave up a wide open look at three to a good shooter. But his teammates probably coach him better than I do because he knows, he looks at my face and he knows I’m about to rip his head off. Those guys, I give his teammates a lot ’cause they’re really coaching ’em up and trying to help him. And they listen to him.”
On Zakai Zeigler’s six turnovers in the first half
“Yeah, it was too loose with the ball. He’s continuing to play and, you know, they hit him with what we would call somewhat of a black defensive pressure on the ball where they’re out there hedging really hard. But he got down there deep too many times and tried to make too many tough passes. But the second half, he didn’t turn it over. He took care of the ball.”
One Response
Jonas Aido played outstanding, however we need James. He to is an outstanding basketball ball player.
If we want to win a National Championship we must have everyone!