Tennessee basketball’s team returned to campus over the weekend after a short time back home for Christmas. The Vols are back in action on Tuesday night against South Carolina State before opening up SEC play this Saturday against Arkansas.
Ahead of Tuesday’s matchup with South Carolina State, Tennessee assistant coach Bryan Lentz and shooting guard Amari Evans met with the media. The duo discussed Nate Ament’s growth, the start of SEC play and much more. Here’s everything they said.
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Bryan Lentz
On the stuff Tennessee wants to get accomplished in practice coming off the holiday break
“I think what our kids do a great job of is when they go home for a break, whether they have trainers or not, they’re still in the gym working out and ensuring that their conditioning is still the same. But it’s about us. When you come back, it’s about what we need to do to improve our team. And that’s honestly been our focus since we got back in practice the last few days.”
On if there’s more energy knowing SEC play starts on Saturday
“Yeah, but here’s the thing, I know it sounds coach-speak type stuff, but it’s always the team that’s in front of us. And we’ve prepared for South Carolina State, things that they do that lead us into SEC play. And our leader, our boss (Rick Barnes), never has a bad day in practice, as you guys know. He never has a bad day. So it doesn’t matter what the team is or who it is, it’s about us. And Coach does an amazing job doing that.”
On if it’s been hard for Tennessee to establish a flow with long breaks between games in recent weeks
“I would say no because we do a lot of extra work and ‘G’ (Garrett Medenwald) our strength coach is amazing and our kids, they just buy into what we’re doing and they know the process is the most important part of it. And we always want to get better — again, coach speak — but we always want to get better. And Coach Barnes’ teams, as you guys have covered, has always been better probably after the break than we were early. And that’s just a tribute to the players and then our staff.”
On if that’s even more important in the NCAA Transfer Portal era, when there are so many new players on Tennessee’s roster
“I think that’s been a huge emphasis. We talk about some of these guys only been here five, six months. And the team last year we had, some of those guys had been here for four years. But it’s how we’re going to be organized. Like South Carolina State is going to present some different challenges, full-court pressing, trapping in a half court. And who is going to be the leader of the team and who’s going to demand the leadership on the court to be organized in what we’re going to do. And that’s where we’ve gotten better and we’re going to continue to get better with that as well.”
On what they’ve liked about Tennessee’s last two games, bouncing back from three straight losses with wins over Louisville and Gardner-Webb
“Yeah, I think, listen Ja’Kobi (Gillespie is) our point guard and Coach, that position for Coach is a difficult position. And he’s starting to learn what it takes to play point guard at University of Tennessee. And the organization part, when things don’t work, if we call a quick hitter or things of that nature, what are we going to do? How are you going to organize us? And he’s gotten better. And I think we’ve done a better job of that lately. That’s been an emphasis of what we’re going to do. And defensively the same thing, and that’s never going to change. But the organization part has been key, especially late in the clock, what we’re going to do.”
On what makes playing point guard at Tennessee for Rick Barnes more demanding than playing point guard at other programs
“I think he wants that kid, whoever it may be — I call them kids, I know they’re a little bit older now — to be the coach on the floor. There’s so much going on during a game that coach thinks about or we’re thinking about on the bench, two, three plays in advance, that he wants that position to understand what it takes to lead this program. And, again, I keep using the word organized, but to be organized and have us understand where shots are coming from, where we’re going to be on the floor, who we’re going to call a play for. And he needs to be a coach on the floor. and so Coach doesn’t have to think so much about that. He just understands — we talk about former teams, like Zakai (Zeigler) was here for four years. Coach knew what he was gonna say or gonna do, and Ja’Kobi’s been here for — I don’t ( know) — six months, and he’s still learning that. He’s figuring it out. He’s doing a great job. He really is. But it’s a tough spot, but those guys are doing a great job.”
On where freshman forward Nate Ament is in his development as Tennessee heads into SEC play
“He’s done great. There’s a lot of pressure on the kid and he’s handled everything really, really well. He’s had two of his best practices the last two days. I think he’s come back with a mentality of physicality and just being aggressive. Nobody’s perfect, none of us, whether in here or on the court, we’re not gonna be perfect. But he’s been really aggressive the last two days and we’ll see how it goes today.”
On how the team has handled the distraction of traveling for Christmas
“I don’t think a lot about that. They go home and do their deal with their families, which they’re supposed to, but they came back with a great mentality. I know some guys were here before practice — coming back before our first practice — and got some work in before to kind of get going. They’ve been great. There’s not been a distraction, in our opinion.”
On what Tennessee freshman wing Amari Evans has done the last couple weeks to earn more minutes
“Yeah, I would arguably say, personally, and then our staff over the last month and a half, he’s probably improved as much as anybody. I would say that in a sense that he’s starting to figure out what Coach wants from him and what our team needs from him. You guys see him in practice. He’s a physical kid. He’s a physical defender, which Coach loves. He’s gotten better on the offensive glass. Offensively, he’s starting to learn spacing of where he needs to be off the ball. And he’s not doing anything that he shouldn’t do, which helps him with Coach, understanding that. But his best attributes are physical defender, offensive rebounder, and what you don’t understand, we see it every day, Amari knows how to play the game. Like, he does. Like if a guy’s in the gap, he’ll make the right pass or he’ll make the right cut, or he’ll make the right screen and he’s learning to play off the ball, and he’s done a tremendous job, but he’s gotta continue to have the consistency to do that.”
On if the coaching staff sees how many ranked road games are coming in January once Tennessee gets into SEC play, or if they just handle it as it comes
“No. Listen, our coaches and our head coach, we don’t look ahead because it’s about getting better today. I know that’s cliche, but you know, the SEC’s a talented league — all the leagues are talented regardless, but we gotta get better. We gotta get better every day. It’s what we gotta do. We have to, and these practices after Christmas are great for the chemistry and the teamwork that we do has been great, and gotta keep doing it.”
On if it makes easier to not look ahead when they know every game in SEC play is going to be a tough game regardless of the opponent
“For sure. I mean, every game is a different challenge. They’ll do something different schematically, whether it’s defense or offense, and it’s our job to prepare for that and our kids do a good job of it. They don’t take anything for granted. Our staff doesn’t let that happen. I think that’s the continued success of why Coach is so good because he doesn’t let up regardless of who we’re playing.”
Amari Evans
On what he feels like he’s done the last month to get him more minute
“Just trying to do whatever Coach Barnes needs me to do. If we’re in film, and he says, ‘we need somebody to rebound,’ I’ll try to go on the floor and I’ll try to rebound. If we need somebody to guard, I’ll just try to do all the little things that I don’t think a lot of people who play against us want to do, so that’s what I try to do.”
On if he has to walk a line between thinking about what Barnes wants him to do and his instincts
“At first, I would say yes, but as you go on more, me learning as a freshman, at the end of the day, it’s just basketball. If I keep that on my mind, I think I’ll be okay.”
On what it’s been like getting back to practice the last couple days after Christmas
“Our last couple of days, we’re just getting back in sync with each other. So I feel like we’re getting back to where we got to be. But of course, it’s gonna take a couple days, and I feel like we’ll be ready for game time.”
On if there’s more excitement this week because SEC play begins Saturday
“I feel like we’ve been practicing all year for SEC, so it ain’t gonna change.”
On Barnes’ message after Evans had five fouls in seven minutes against Louisville
“He was telling me, like, I’m playing hard, I just got to learn how to play without fouling. But he was just saying, it’s a learning curve. You just got to keep playing and just learn how to not foul.”
On if it’s better to have five fouls in seven minutes than be the guy that has one rebound in 10
“I feel like it’s bad for both. Because if I play 10 minutes and I have one rebound, I think that’s a bad thing too, but five fouls is also bad. So I don’t know. I want to be neither of those guys.”
On the key for him to limit the fouls while still being a physical defender
“Just play smart, think the game a little bit more. As long as I can think the game a little bit more, get in my rhythm, get my flow in the game, I’ll be okay.”
On what the last three weeks have been like having more practice than game
“I feel like our stretch where we had 10 days between games, I feel like those are our best 10 days of the year. I thought we got a lot better. Everybody got in sync with each other. Everybody’s connecting. We’re still learning each other more, and I feel like we got a lot closer.”
On if he’s seen Nate Ament be more physical since returning from Christmas
“100%. He’s been a lot more aggressive, and that’s what we need from Nate.”
On if he wanted to play in the SEC
“Yeah, 100% because last year it was arguably one of the greatest conferences ever. So I mean, as a high school player, of course I want to be a part of that. I want to see what that’s about, to see if my talent will show up on this level.”
