It’s been nearly 11 years since Texas basketball fired head coach Rick Barnes after his 17-year stint as the Longhorns’ head coach. It was a decision that Tennessee benefited from, scooping him up days later as the program’s new head coach.
Texas has had some success since firing Barnes but is on its fourth head coach since the move. Barnes’ Vols knocked off Sean Miller’s first Texas team 85-71 in Knoxville on Tuesday night. Miller was highly complimentary of Barnes’s program after the fact.
“It wasn’t pretty and we didn’t win,” Miller said postgame. “But when you establish that we’re going to play hard, and what we talk about as a coach you have to do, I think that’s the starting in the building blocks of hopefully one day building a foundation like you guys have here at Tennessee under Coach Barnes.”
Tennessee’s program has earned the reputation as one of the nation’s best defensively. Playing hard is a prerequisite for playing at Tennessee. Miller bemoaned his team’s effort following the loss at Tennessee and hinted at coming lineup changes to maximize effort.
The veteran head coach’s postgame press conference made it clear that he has a tremendous amount of respect for Barnes and the way Tennessee’s program operates.
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“We have a long way to go,” Miller said. “But what we have to do is we have to be a team that’s connected and plays the game with great, great effort. And the thing that I would tell you about Tennessee, they do those two things. It’s admirable.”
It’s ironic for Texas’ head coach to talk so glowingly about Barnes giving the Longhorns’ fired him 11 years ago. Barnes is 5-1 against his former program since arriving at Tennessee including a win in the Round of 32 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament and a win in Austin last season.
In his 11 years in Knoxville, Tennessee has twice won the SEC Regular-Season Championship and the 2022 SEC Tournament. The Vols have made the NCAA Tournament eight times with two trips to the Elite Eight and two more trips to the Sweet 16.
Coaches Shaka Smart, Chris Beard and Rodney Terry have combined to make the NCAA Tournament seven times with only one trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament— a birth in the 2023 Elite Eight. The Longhorns also won the 2023 Big 12 Tournament.
Tennessee basketball is back in action this weekend when they travel to Florida to face the defending national champion Gators. Texas heads to Tuscaloosa Saturday to face No. 13 Alabama.
