Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes and guard Jordan Gainey met with the media in Knoxville on Tuesday afternoon ahead of their contest against Arkansas in Fayetteville on Wednesday night.
The Vols (17-6, 7-3 SEC) will take on the Razorbacks (12-11, 3-7 SEC) at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2 from Bud Walton Arena.
Despite holding on to a Top 10 ranking, Tennessee has dropped two of their last four as losses against South Carolina and Texas A&M bookend big wins against Kentucky and LSU. The Razorbacks, on the other hand, have lost three of their last five contests but are coming off of a gritty win against Georgia in Fayetteville over the weekend.
“Well, they beat Purdue (in an exhibition game), who I think arguably right now, best team in the country. They beat Duke, beat Texas A&M,” Barnes said about Arkansas on Tuesday. “And if you go back and look at Eric [Musselman], what he does, his teams get better. They’re going to fight. That’s what they do. And again, his teams have always gotten better as the year goes on. We know that they have a great arena, great home crowd. We expect it to be as hard a game as any we played all year.”
Gainey, meanwhile, spoke about the team’s mindset coming out of two losses in the last four games and why he has confidence in his teammates moving forward.
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Check out both interviews and some interview clips using the links below. Subscribe to Rocky Top Insider on YouTube to stay up to date with Tennessee Athletics video coverage.
HC Rick Barnes
G Jordan Gainey
Barnes on Arkansas, Bud Walton Arena
Barnes on Technical Foul Snub Against Texas A&M
Barnes on Tennessee’s Rebounding
