Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the media on Monday morning before the Vols face off against Louisville on Tuesday night in Knoxville. Tennessee hasn’t played in over a week while Louisville is coming off a blowout win against Memphis.
Ahead of the matchup, Barnes discussed who will start in place of Cade Phillips, challenges that Louisville presents and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On the focus in practice for Tennessee basketball after having the last nine days off with no game
“Well, I think a lot of the things. There was a lot that we had to work on and keep working on. And I do think we made some progress, but we’ll see if we keep moving forward here. But I thought their attitudes were really good in terms we just broke down everything where we felt like we had to make the biggest jumps. Which obviously taking care of the ball is a big part of it. Defensively, our ball-screen coverage, trying to keep continue to clean that up with so many people doing that. But just overall as a group, trying to get guys to understand the roles, the details, just any and everything you could imagine. That’s what we’ve talked about.”
On if issues feel more fixable when this is a Tennessee team that practices well
“Well, I think we have practiced well. We’ll see tomorrow if we can play well. And we’re playing against a team, I’ve got a lot of respect for Pat Kelsey and the job that he’s done at Louisville. I mean, he took over a program that we know has had great success, certainly for a long, long time. And one of the great coaching jobs a year ago, and he’s doing again this year. And so it’ll be a great test for us. And we’re going to see if we can get better when the lights come on.”
On if it’s more mental or physical problems for this Tennessee team lately
“It is mental. It is a mental part of it. Coach (Bob) Knight always talked about how the mental to the physical is four to one. And that’s exactly right. And physically these guys have worked hard. They have. They’ve worked hard for us from day one. But understanding basketball the way it needs to be played, they want to do it, there’s no doubt they want to do it. But they have to do it. And it’s a matter of just understanding the importance of each possession, the details that go into it, and just simply passing the ball the way it needs to be passed, things like that. And not being sloppy. But if you’d have told me when the season started, we’re going to be counting on as many young players as we did. We knew we had a lot of young, I mean new players, but tomorrow night we’re going to start two freshmen, which I would’ve not thought that really. But that’s where we’ve gotten to and we’ll continue to see where we go with this team.”
On which freshmen is starting besides Nate Ament
“DeWayne. DeWayne is going to start tomorrow night in place of Cade.”
On why DeWayne Brown
“He’s earned it. Just that’s it. He simply, with his consistency, he earned it. And we’re going to base everything we do based on everyday practice habits and consistency because that’s what we haven’t had. Everybody has shown glimpses of this or that. We want to see consistency and, those are the guys. But I look at our front line, to be honest with you, whether it’s JP or Jaylen or Fe, those guys are all starters to me. But the fact is, the guy that’s going start is going to be the most consistent guys.”
On Amari Evans working at the four-spot, if Louisville could be a game they use him there
“We could but we’ll wait and see. We’ll, as the game goes, whatever adjustments we need to make, we’ll make them.”
On if he’s had a long conversation with Ja’Kobi Gillespie about being a true point guard
“We’ve had that conversation. We’ve had more than one and he knows what he needs to do and he’s gotten better with it. Now he’s gonna have to, again, do it when the lights come on.”
On what he’s challenging the other four men to do defensively with Cade Phillips out
“Ball screen coverage has got to be more consistent. Post defense. All of it. Everything that those positions— rebounding the ball at the rate we need to, and, and we’re really, on offense, getting the space you need and doing something with the ball when you get it. It’s just, there’s not just one specific thing. It goes back to being consistent with everything that we’re asking them to do.”
