Tennessee basketball cruised past Gardner-Webb 94-52 on Sunday afternoon in Knoxville. The Vols used a massive early game run to take control and cruised from there to their 10th victory of the season.
Following the game, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes discussed Amaree Abram’s big performance, the growth of his freshman class and much more and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On his message during the timeout after Tennessee got down 5-0 over the first three minutes of the game
“The start of the game, as long as we’re trying to what we’re trying to do. We missed some shots that were there. But it’s just simply we’re going to play the right way. And if you don’t, because we knew this coming in and we’re still trying to figure a way every game to get the guys that are playing, all of them if they can, to play (the right way). And that was (the message), we’re going to play the right way. If not, we’re going get the guys out there that play the right way.
“And I thought the first half, I thought pretty much for the whole game, our guys did a good job. You get a lead like that, it’s hard sometimes not to continue with the concentration of what we’re trying to do. They played zone most of the night, which we hadn’t seen that all year. So yesterday in practice was the first time all year that we’ve spent any time really working against it. Because we feel like the ball-handlers we have and post guys and shooters will be fine against those zones.
“But just play the right way. At the start of the game I don’t think they were not trying to play the right way. They hit a three early, but we had shots we just didn’t make. And then a couple of rebounds bounced long, which that happens sometimes.”
On what he saw from Tennessee freshman guard Clarence Massamba to give him more minutes earlier in the game
“He’s the one guy that, I’ve said it to you guys before. He’s the one guy that personally, I I just felt like I had to get him out there more. Because, from the time he got here, in the fall, he just reminds me of a lot of Yves Pons and the fact that he’s so driven. He never complains about anything. He’s just all about what do I have to do to get better. And when you watch him, I stand there every day and watch him start practicing, just the short shooting or whatever drill we’re in, he just goes at maybe harder than anybody on the team. When you got a guy like that, just there’s something in your gut that says we’ve got to give him a chance to get out there. And the more the more he gets out there, the better he is going to be.”
On if Tennessee has righted the ship after the three-game losing streak
“I don’t know if the ship was ever not right. I think it was a learning process. I think our guys, mainly I think Ja’Kobi (Gillespie) probably more than anybody, learning how to really try to run a team. You go back to the games, and I think more than anything the last 10 days, 11, 12 days, our guys realize how much they need each other. That was a good question, Ben, you asked about the first four minutes. I actually said to them would somebody put the ball inside without us having to call a play? We worked so hard at trying to get them to understand playing inside out. Because we’ve got post guys that can score and I also think they are willing passers. And we can shoot the ball. I mean the highest-percentage shot are those inside-out threes, stationary threes. And we need to get more of them. The more those guys can deliver inside, the better those those guys are going to get from the perimeter. But if they don’t get it inside, people have no reason to crash back down in there. But I think that’s probably has been as much as anything, just again, to continue to understand the game, understanding each other and how they all need each other to really maximize each other’s games.”
On what he likes about Amaree Abram, his progression
“He’s got really good hands. He does that, again, we all love him because he doesn’t flinch. I mean, I can get on him obviously about whatever, and he’s really coachable. It’s just, again, consistency and he’s competitive. Mo, he’s got a different, maybe looking shot, he can shoot the ball. He’s a good finisher. He is good on the ball. Not just him, but 90% of our team still has to get better away from the ball. But he’s a great teammate. He is. I mean, it is hard when you have as many guys that are really close like we do. But the great thing about it, we’re going to play the hand that’s getting it done that day. And if he’s the guy, he’ll be the guy. If not, he’s going to encourage the guys there. And I think I can say that about every one of the guys on our team.”
On DeWayne Brown since moving into the starting lineup
“Well again, I mean you look at his rebound. I mean he did a great job doing that. DeWayne’s a really, he really understands how to play. We love the fact that when he’s up high, he is a connector. He can keep things going. Really good passer. Sees the game, probably our best post player in terms of knowing how to get positioned in there first. Score before he gets the ball. But very unselfish and as he continues to really two things— understand defense at the level that we need him to and learning how to play when he’s tired. That’s the two things that he’s got to continue to grow in. And he will because the more he’s out there, the more he’ll understand how valuable it is to stand to play even when he’s tired and he’s already improved tremendously that. But I’ve said it from day one, he’s just now getting going to be the kind of player that— (did) we think he would come on this early? We didn’t. We didn’t know, but we knew that we believed in him and because he comes out of a great program where he’s been so well coached and from the time he got here, he and Felix went at each other all summer and there was no doubt that he’s been the biggest surprise coming after the start of practice in the summer.”
On what separates this freshman class to others
“Well, I’ve said before we were really excited about our freshman class. We, again, just so much credit goes to our staff. They’re really, really highly experienced evaluators. They know how to evaluate not only our needs, but what they know will fit within our program and probably as much as anything with this class would be their mental makeup. And we talk about it with them, obviously we know we’ve gotta get guys that can shoot the ball, score the ball. We know they’re going to go through a growth period, which they all have. But again, it’s mentally probably as much as anything. And they’ve learned, they’re learning as we go here, but they didn’t know this summer probably why, how we were doing a lot of the things that we were doing. But they stayed with it, and we’ve got a long way to go still. But we’ve got a group of guys that I know want to be good and we’ll just keep trying to get better a little bit each day.”
On Tennessee senior guard Amaree Abram scoring 15 points and having three steals
“That’s him. He’s capable like that, you know, he’s capable of making those explosive plays for you where, when he shoots it — we think when he gets his feet set — I would say that with most of the guys on our team. We feel when they get the feet set and shoot it with the way they practice it, we feel good about it. But he’s been a really good on-the-ball defender. He’s made some really big plays for us and has got great hands, got great hands. He still obviously has a problem with his wrist, but he never says anything about it. He just keeps going on down the road and doing his business. We need him. We need his experience, definitely. We need that. ‘Cause he’s played at this level before. He knows what it’s about and he also knows what’s coming.”
On Tennessee junior forward Jaylen Carey’s contributions of late
“Well, again, Jaylen is somebody, everybody on this team loves him, knows that we need him, knows that we need more from him. Even what he has given us, we need more and we need to know what we’re gonna get every night. He’s really working hard and trying to get out of his comfort zone. I would say the knock on him has been that sometimes he plays, sometimes he doesn’t. Doesn’t wanna get out of his comfort zone. I can tell you he’s trying to do that. He’s really working hard, trying to, and it’s hard. I mean, if it were easy, more people would do it. He knows that every game that he goes out and shows us what we know he is capable of, he raises the bar and we’re gonna continue to raise it because again, he’s one of those guys that I don’t even think he’s gotten started of how good a player he can be if he really is willing to make himself hurt. And it hurts, when you’re tired, to have to find a way to fight through it, physically to go down there and know you’re going to get double teamed, triple teamed, not much room to work. And he can pass the ball. If he’ll just keep doing what he’s doing, he can get so much better for us.”
On Tennessee freshman wing Amari Evans having six points, three rebounds and three steals to build off his performance against Louisville
“Amari, same, you know, he only played seven minutes in the Louisville game because of fouls and we told him he’s gonna have to correct that. I thought tonight he loosened up a little bit too much and got driven by, because I think he’s trying to be conscious of not trying to foul, but he can’t lose his physicality. That’s what makes him the player that he is. So again, that’s a freshman that’s trying to figure it out, you know? How much can I get in there and be physical? How much can I back off? And that’s not his game, you know, he’s gonna have to play with tenacity. I mean, that’s who he is. But this experience, and again, the more he gets to go through it, the better he’ll get with it.”
On if he feels like Tennessee point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie took a step forward this past week in being able to run a team
“Yeah, I mean he turned it over there twice. I didn’t know it. Somebody — because I got mad at him on those turnovers, he was forcing it. But somebody told me he had nine turnovers and somebody wanted to get him to 10 and I didn’t know that. Had I known that — is that right? I mean nine assists. I’m sorry, nine assists. He’s had nine turnovers, too, so I was expecting that, you know? I guess he was trying to get there. He would have had a double-double if he had played the way he was three weeks ago.
“But he’s getting better. He’s learning how to really run a team. I mean he’s never really been asked to do that at the level we want him to. And I think Bishop’s (Boswell) helped him some with it. I really do. I think that’s helped him. But give him credit. He realizes he’s got to learn and he’s trying. He really is trying to do that.”
