Tennessee basketball led wire-to-wire against LSU as they earned an 88-68 win for its third straight win over the Tigers.
The Vols’ backcourt trio of Zakai Zeigler, Jordan Gainey and Dalton Knecht led the way. The trio combined for 62 points on 19-of-37 shooting from the field.
After the win, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes discussed the play of the trio, the Vols major issues on the offensive glass and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways On Tennessee’s Win Over LSU
On LSU dominating Tennessee on the glass
“I don’t know. If you asked me that when we, after I watched the film, I just know that we had our hands on a couple of them. I thought we were trying to rebound a ball with one hand and you can’t do that. I think you gotta get good credit. (LSU) did a great job, was just awesome getting to the glass form and get there. But we got to grab it. Got to secure the ball with two hands and we’re not doing enough of that right now.”
On Tennessee getting more balanced scoring production around Dalton Knecht for a second straight game
“Yeah, obviously you would love to bottle the first half. I mean, we were terrific the first half. We really did do a lot of really good things. Obviously when the ball is going in like that, it all looks good, but I thought we were good in the second half. But Matt (McMahon) does a great job. I told the guys (LSU is) going to push and get back. They’re too good a team, they played too good a schedule. And I thought our shot selection wasn’t as good in the second half. And, missing free throws, if you missed two free throws, those turn into turnovers and we gave them, or they got too wide open threes. And again, when those happened early in the possession, it is transition defense. And as much as we’ve harped about that, if you break it down to one thing, it was just the second-chance points, the offensive glass. And we got to fix that in a hurry.”
On Jordan Gainey sparking Tennessee defensively
“You know, I was sitting beside his dad and I kept telling his rhythm (was good), but I said, man, he’s improved so much on the defensive end. He was really working so hard there. And I thought the only three that he rushed was the one in transition. He didn’t quite get his feet set, but again, his biggest improvement is — everybody thinks he can just shoot it — he’s not afraid to go in and you can try to create something off the bounce. But defensively is where he’s improved more than anything this year. I mean, he has really taken it personal, becoming an all-around player.”
On if that was one of Dalton Knecht’s more complete games with seven rebounds and six assists
“I told him after the game when we were in the locker room talking about guys that had a good night looking at the stat sheet. I think his career-high was seven rebounds. And I said to him you could have had 11. And that’s a fine line because you’ve got a guy like that, who has a knack for scoring. And when we do run some isolation plays, which we did because we need him to do that, with his back to the basket. And he’s going have to make the right read out of it as opposed to trying to be overly aggressive.
“But I thought he did a good job at the end when we put in him in the ball screen at the top, where I do think he was really trying to make the right play. But his rebounding was key tonight and his assists. And we’ve told he and Jordan both, and even Zakai, who was been terrific, you know what, you guys are more than just guys that going to shoot ball. You guys are good players and you don’t think you just got shoot it. Just play do what you’re good at. And I thought Dalton’s all-around game tonight was really good.”
On if the recent hot starts are just about making shots or if there’s more to it
“Think about it. We started (the) South Carolina game with some point blank layups and those are tough ones (too miss) but, again, when we’re open we got to shoot the ball because we’ve got to shoot it. And I will tell you, we’ve got to do a better job rebounding the ball on both ends. We did a great job in Lexington getting I think 43% of our misses. But defensively those are, we give them what 10 extra possessions there because we don’t block out. And you don’t want to do that. You really don’t. That’s the difference in probably scoring, how many points we score 88? This is a chance to maybe score hundred, again, but you can’t be a great defensive team and if you can’t rebound the ball. And right now our guys are working hard trying to guard people in a league where there’s some really good players, but we got to rebound it better.”
On Santiago Vescovi passing up shots
“Well, Santi loves cutting, screening but he does have to shoot the ball a bit. But again, anybody that plays this game, you know, when you feel like you got it and when you don’t, but still he’s a guy that loves— he’s so unselfish at times because honestly, he’s the guy on our team that realizes the importance of trying to get it to our post guys. And he knows if he can get in the lane that he can maybe set them up when he turned it over tonight trying to get going there. But he’s got a feel for it and I think he knows when he needs to shoot it, when he doesn’t.”
On the effectiveness of Zakai Zeigler providing ball pressure for 94 feet
“Well, that’s what he has to do. And we’ve talked about it, I mean, at his height that that’s where he’s got to get in the back court. He’s got to do that. And one, first time I saw him play, that’s what he did. That’s in his DNA, that’s what he’s always done. And even if we asked him to back up some because sometimes he’s guarding 85 feet from the basket trying to turn people in, set a high ball screen half quarter. It’s really hard to defend. But he will tell you that’s what he does. But having him do that is something that I think every coach would love to have.”
On if he’s pleased with what Tennessee got in transition and in the secondary break
“Yeah. We want to get out and run. That’s how we practice. You guys watch us. We want to get out and go with it and hopefully our bench can keep giving us something and get more consistent there. But they’re a solid defense. We’re not going to play against any teams that can’t defend and if you are going to rely on just going into the half court, it’s tough. So if we can finish possessions on the defensive end and they don’t make shots because they’re going to— I thought Will Baker had a really good game tonight. He made some tough shots, but he makes those shots. I mean, that was one of the little fade away shots he had. That’s one of his moves he made it. But I think every team wants to get out early because I don’t think anyone every time down the floor wants to play against a set defense.”
On Jonas Aidoo missing more shots than usual around the rim of late and if there’s any rhyme or reason as to why
“No. You guys have asked him this year about Jordan (Gainey) going through a slump, Josiah (James) and whoever. I mean, post guys can do it, too. And those aren’t as easy as you think when people are in there leaning on you and pushing, fighting for that position. But we’ve seen him make it and we need him. We need him to do that.
“But we also need Tobe to come in. I think Tobe had one rebound tonight. That’s his one job. He’s gotta come in. I told those guys that if they’ll rebound the ball, do those type things, set good screens because of what’s surrounding them, they’re gonna get great looks at the basket, but it’s not as easy as it looks (and) as you’d think with how they’re guarded down there.”
On what he likes about games with a lot of ball movement
“Well, we always try to play like that. We like movement. And honestly, we’re at our best when we’re moving bodies and moving the ball. We really are. We’ve always tried to be a team that helps each other, cutting, trying to get easy looks that way. But we’ve always, again, try to get a lot of player movement, a lot of ball movement and a screening team. So I think our guys will tell you that what we like, what we do, think it’s hard to guard, but it still gets back if you make those shots it all looks better.”
On what he felt like Gainey did differently tonight than the last couple of games
“The last couple of games, I think he’s had a really good rhythm, a really good feel. I think he’s settling in more. I think he’s working hard, moving without the ball, but he also is understanding, you know, that if he gets his feet set — there’s not guy on our team, that (if) they get their feet set and we want rhythm shots. We don’t think anybody’s has to force any shots unless it’s a special situation. We hate getting down against the clock. That shouldn’t happen, but when it does, you might have to do that. But again, I go back as much as he’s scored, I think why he’s scoring is he’s not thinking about it. He’s just naturally gifted at shooting the ball and you got some other things he can do, but it’s how hard he is working defensively and I think that when you get lost in the game like that, it makes everything better. Certainly helps you get out and run. You can spot up. He’s good with a one-dribble, two-dribble pull up. He’s not afraid to go in and try to get fouled and make a layup.”
On LSU coach Matt McMahon saying Tennessee is so good at screening off the ball and what makes them so good at doing it
“Well, to be honest with that, we’ve done it for nine years. That’s our break. We’ve ran it for nine years. We tweak it. We do different things, but offensively with our normal transition game, and we do do some things differently after a missed shot, but our tradition — we’ve been doing it. I think guys are comfortable with it. We believe in it. And I think the more we run it and we run it with speed, away from the ball. We work on that defense like every coach, but hard cuts hurt you. We got back cut tonight on, I think Z was heavy in the gap and somebody back-cut him and scored. But that’s what we try to do. We try a lot of off-ball screens and movement. We need all five guys to understand the spacing and what we’re looking for.”
On teams not screening off the ball as much as Tennessee does and if that’s a benefit to them
“I don’t know. I think coaches have to coach to what they believe in and you know, we’ve been doing it for a long time and it’s not easy because you gotta have guys (that can do it). And that’s where Santi’s been really good at it. I think Dalton’s getting better. Jordan Gainey has figured it out, obviously, but that’s just what we do, you know? There’s a lot of different ways to play this game and I like it. A dear friend of mine (in) my first year in coaching, Bob McKillop, did a lot of this and I’ve always had a great deal of respect for him and the way he sees the game. And I think we both see it because of, really, he and I spent hours running together back when I was a young coach. And as you know, he’s a great basketball coach and a guy that (I) learned a lot of this from.”
