What Rick Barnes Said About Controversial Call Against Tennessee In Loss At Auburn

Rick Barnes
Head coach Rick Barnes speaks to an official during a game against MTSU at Food City Center. Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. Cole Moore/RTI

AUBURN, Ala. — Tennessee basketball led Auburn 51-49 with 92 seconds remaining in its top 10 tilt on the Plains on Saturday night. The Vols were inbounding the ball in the front court out of a timeout.

Tennessee was struggling to get the ball in before Igor Milicic threw the ball into Felix Okpara. The center was looking for a guard to hand the ball too when Auburn’s Johni Broome grabbed his shoulders and Okpara dragged his pivot foot.

The official whistled Okpara for a travel and Rick Barnes spiked his water in disgust at the call. Tennessee’s turnover propelled Auburn to a 53-51 victory against the sixth-ranked Vols.

Here’s what Barnes said about the call postgame:

“I thought he was held. I mean, it’s a physical game and I just don’t think from what I saw, I thought he had two hands on his shoulders and can’t— I don’t know what we can do and I thought we should have did a better job getting it in, but they do a really good job in those situations too. But I think he traveled, but I don’t think you can put two hands on somebody’s shoulders. That’s what my (assistant) coaches told me was they saw, when they looked at it well before the game was over and maybe it didn’t, it didn’t happen.

“He traveled. He definitely traveled. Whether he had help doing it, you have to look at it. I haven’t seen it yet.”

More From RTI: Everything Rick Barnes Said After Tennessee Basketball’s Narrow Loss At Auburn

Tennessee got the ball back with the lead after Broome missed the front end of the bonus on the ensuing possession. Zakai Zeigler just missed a reverse layup and it wasn’t until the next possession that Auburn took the lead on a Miles Kelly corner three-pointer.

But the travel call was still a massive play in the game. If a foul was called on Broome, Okpara would have gone to the foul line to shoot the bonus. The junior center is shooting 68% from the foul line this season and did not attempt a free throw in the loss at Auburn.

The Vols had multiple chances to win after Kelly’s triple gave Auburn the lead with 30 seconds remaining. Igor Milicic missed a shot at the rim and Zeigler’s corner three went in-and-out with five seconds remaining.

“I don’t have a problem Igor trying to be aggressive right there,” Barnes said postgame.

The loss moves Tennessee to 17-3 (4-3 SEC) on the 2024-25 season. Life remains difficult for Tennessee in SEC play next weekend as they return to Knoxville to face Kentucky and Florida.

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