Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes met with the local media on Monday afternoon to put a bow on the Vols’ loss at Arkansas and to preview the matchup against Texas on Tuesday night.
Barnes, who had lost his voice, discussed defensive issues at Arkansas, regretting not giving Troy Henderson playing time and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On iff he thinks its sustainable for Tennessee to play as many freshmen for as many minutes as the Vols have lately
“Yeah, I do because we’re going to play the guys that that perform and guys that earn it. And there’s no doubt that, I mean, we’re happy with what they’re doing. We’d like to see the older guys be more consistent, more dependable, but that’s what we have. That’s what we have.
On if he’s not surprised that this Tennessee team struggles at times with defense and toughness, given the amount of young and new players
“Well, it’s obvious after a game like Arkansas, people look at the free throws, but the free throws are not what cost us that game. We didn’t do the details, the things that you have to do to win games. We didn’t have ball pressure, we didn’t follow our scouting report, all those type things. We didn’t do any of it. And when you don’t do it, you don’t deserve to win. And when you do win games like that, it can give you a false sense of where you are. And that’s what was disappointing, that we just didn’t really do what we had talked about.
“… No, I don’t think (it’s because of so many new players), I think what I said earlier. We thought we’d be able to get more from our older players.”
On what Tennessee’s JP Estrella has to do to get minutes that he’s not doing right now
“Consistency and being locked into the things that players have to do (and) the things they don’t want to do. They have to do the things like run the court every time. They’ve got to go to the glass. If we call a coverage, they got to be in the coverage. Just the things that that you all probably never see, that nobody sees. Those are the things you have to do all the time, and not think that somebody else is going do that for you. And that’s not just JP. It’s pretty much what happened Saturday. We had too many guys that just didn’t do their jobs in the way they need to do it.”
On the number of minutes Ja’Kobi Gillespie needs to play, using other Tennessee guards to help him carry the load at point guard
“A big thing with Bishop (Boswell), we need him on the court. He picked up those two fouls early and he certainly can play the point for us. We’re going to have to give Troy a good look. We have to do that. I got on the plane Saturday and the first thing I did, when I saw Troy, I apologized to him because I didn’t play him. I should have given him a shot and I didn’t. And that was my fault. So we’re going to give him a look and see what he can do.”
On what Troy Henderson needs to do for them to feel more comfortable playing him
“It is trust. It’s not just mine. It’s the trust of our staff and our defense. And that’s probably what it is with most of it. Just knowing that— because we’ve gotta get back to being the kind of defensive team that we need to be to play the basketball we need to play because what we do on defense complements what we try to do on offense. And if we don’t do that, we can’t be the team that we want to be.”
On addressing the issues against Arkansas with a short turn around
“I told them yesterday, I’m not worried about free throws. I’m not worried about making shots. I’m worried about guys doing their jobs. If they get lost in the game, understand what it takes to win basketball games. All that will take care of itself. And that’s exactly what I told them yesterday. But when you start worrying about making shots, making free throws, you only— it puts pressure on yourself and there’s no reason to do that. If we play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, these guys have played enough basketball that innately they would do that if their mindset is where it should be. And it’s not where it needs to be right now. It certainly wasn’t Saturday.”
On if Tennessee’s offense affects its defense
“No doubt. I wouldn’t say this team, I’d say most teams. I think anybody that all they want to do is shoot and score. When that’s not going real well, I think it affects them unless they’re mature enough to handle it. And most guys at this level aren’t really. But again, it’s just understanding how to play the game the right way. And if you do that, all that other things will take care of itself.”
On what he likes about his team right now
“Well, I don’t think we played particularly well and we were there, it was a one-possession game. A five-second call that wasn’t a five-second call, it was a big play. I mean it wasn’t five seconds and then they hit a big three right there. We always talk about there’s a breaking point and that breaking point can come from a lot of different areas. That was a tough stretch. They hit that one and then back-to-back (threes). We were right there and we can be so much better. And again, Arkansas is a terrific team. I thought our speed at the beginning of the game was really good.
“But again, I thought, really, the fact that we’ve stopped doing the things we need to do on the defensive end ’cause we let the offense start getting into our head, hurt us and we just gotta improve and we will. I mean, I got so much confidence in this group of guys, but we just need everybody to really lock into a scouting report and go into the game knowing what they need to do and not thinking about points, scoring, shooting and all those type things.”
On losing his voice
“Yeah, it was loud and you know, when referees don’t wanna get close to you, you still gotta make sure they hear you. That’s kinda what happened.”
On what stands about Texas
“Well, so much respect for Sean (Miller). You know, I’ve known Sean. If you don’t know the story, I met John Calipari in, I think, 1976. And we were at the University of Pitt’s camp and he was still in college, I think it was at Clarion College, and I just graduated, and we were working this camp together and we each had a team, and my team won the championship. My starting point guard was eight-years-old, Sean Miller, and we won the championship. So I’ve watched Sean grow up, coached against him, obviously when he was at Pitt and I was at Providence. Just a great deal of respect and obviously we coached against each other, too, later on at Arizona, Texas.
“But just so much respect for him and he’s going to do a great — his teams are always tough, hard-nosed. He’s a coach that will adjust to whatever he needs to do to put his team in the best position to win. I know they lost a tough game Saturday and he’ll have ’em ready to play.”
