Tennessee basketball’s road woes continued on Saturday afternoon as the Vols laid an egg in a 91-67 loss at Florida. The game was tied late in the first half before Florida used a massive run to take control of the game and never looked back.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes discussed the turnover issues, the Vols’ front court struggling and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said postgame.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways As Turnovers Plague Tennessee Basketball In Loss At Florida
On Florida center Rueben Chinyelu
“Terrific. As good a performance that I’ve seen a long time. If he didn’t catch it where he wanted, he caught it and he got where he wanted it. And just did a great job. Totally dominated the game from an inside perspective and did a great job for them. And they got a national championship front line, we know that. I thought today, if nothing else, we’re going to find out if we’re willing to realize that we got to get out of the comfort zone that our guys are in to compete against a team like that, especially on the front line. But he was terrific. I mean, he was terrific.”
On how much tougher Florida is when Boogie Fland plays the way he did against Tennessee
“I thought their guards, I’m sure, you go back (and look) at their team, I’m sure, as a staff they’re waiting for their guards to catch up, be where they want to be. And they were good there, but we look at all that. I mean, 30 points off turnovers, you don’t have a chance. It was a good game, a close game, the kind of game you would expect and then the last four minutes of first half, just really poor basketball. And I’ll take the blame for it, because I don’t know if I’ve had a team to play that bad and do the things and make the decisions they made from out of bounds, those type things. It was just really poor basketball. And that’s on me.”
On what led to Tennessee playing “really poor basketball,” what has to change
“Turnovers. Decisions. You look at 30 points off turnovers to our eight. They shot the ball 15 more times. And they don’t need any help. I mean, give them credit. They were there. I thought they challenged everything at the rim. I didn’t think we did. They kicked our butt. That’s all I can tell you. And that’s disappointing, because for 16 minutes in the first half we were there, the kind of game you thought it would be. And then turnovers.
“And then we’re not tough enough yet as a team when things aren’t going our way to know how to fight through it. Then we got again, we’re talking about turnovers. I could probably count another 10 shots that were really ill advised shots with guys taking shots when you when you need high-percentage basketball, shots that they don’t practice and are just hoping. You can’t win this game on hope. You can’t. And give them all the credit they after that, the last four minutes on, they controlled the game and did what they wanted to do. And you know what? They got relaxed, they started playing. And we didn’t guard, we didn’t put up the resistance. Just way too many defensive breakdown coverages.”
On how he can get this Tennessee team tough enough
“I asked them that. I’m going to kind of wait and see what they tell me, because I know that we’ve talked about it. It’s a mindset. We’ve asked all guys in some shape or form, when we talk about it just straight up — and we don’t say anything that we can’t validate by watching film and habits every day in practice — but when guys always their answer is ‘I don’t know,’ that’s a problem. Because we all know the situation. At some point in time, you got to take a deep look within yourself as coaches, as players, and say, okay, something’s got to change here. Our whole deal was we wanted a frontline that we thought could help us. We’re not there yet. Can we get there? There’s a long way to go. And I hope this game is a game we’ll look back on and think, ‘Ok, these guys showed us what it takes to win at the highest level with a frontline.’ We’ll see. They were in it. They saw it and our whole deal was we wanted to front line that we thought that could help us. And we’re not there yet. Can we get there? It’s a long way to go. And I hope this game is a game we’ll look back on and think, ‘hey, okay, these guys showed us what it takes to win at the highest level with the front line,’ and we’ll see. Because they they were in it. They saw it. DeWayne Brown, I can see a little bit, he’s a freshman, never going and I thought he competed. But our older— three other guys on the front line, they’ve been in it enough. And you look at the rebound total, it’s not where it needs to be, and all of it. But it wasn’t just that. It was all around guard play. I mean, I mean 18 turnovers, and 10 of it with your starting back court. And that’s an issue.”
On what went on with Bishop Boswell, his six turnovers
“I can’t answer that. You’ll have to ask him that. I can’t. I wish I could, but I can’t. Again, I thought, I don’t know if he was putting more pressure on himself. I don’t know what was going on there. I mean, in the past, we’ve relied on him to handle the ball some. I wish I could answer because I would, I’d certainly try to help him fix it.”
On if the effort was good enough in the second half
“Well, I think they’re fighting. I mean, again, I think when you give somebody— I thought Nate was really I thought Nate started. I mean, I was, for some reason, I just felt Nate would come out and do some things he did today. And I thought that, again, our freshmen (that) went in the game, I thought, yeah, I thought they played hard. Again, I’m not happy with the front line. I can only tell you that. I’m not happy there. I didn’t think that we fought the way we needed to fight there. A lot, obviously, is placed on Ja’Kobi when other guys aren’t doing what they need to do. But I thought, looking at it Nate, again, I’m not seeing anybody I think played hard*. I think it goes back to understanding, I mean, Felix, I’ve said it before. I think he’s one of the best, if not the best, perimeter post guy defenders in the country. (He) should be inside. He had one rebound today. He’s too good for that. Too good. He’s too good for that. We need more from— DeWayne had what four? JP had two and can’t— we need more. We need more out of JP. We really do. We need more there. And we need Jaylen to want to be better on the other end, not just get excited about offense. We need him to want to‚ I mean, plays that just drive you nuts as a coach— when you get out ran down to court. Not going back, playing with a purpose, fouling 94 feet from the basket. On a free throw, guard not being back. That’s where I think players, I don’t think it has to do with about not playing hard. I think sometimes they get in shock, because like what’s happened here? And that’s where you got to continue to play the game because I’ve said it many, many times, if you stay in the game long enough, sometimes the other team will help you. We didn’t put Florida in the position that they could because we let them get out and go and well, coached team, and I don’t think, I don’t think really and truly they were really at any point in time very uncomfortable today. I don’t, and that’s that’s on us.”
On what changed after the first 15 minutes
“Well, just what you said, the opposite is a lot of turnovers. Not getting rebounds. Not getting second shots. I don’t know if some missed free throws played in there right now, but turnovers, I mean, they kill you. I mean, and again, you look at. I mean, right there, 30-8 in turnovers. That’s, again, what was it? A 23 point game, whatever. That’s right there. I mean, think about it’s a 22-point difference right there. That’s a huge, huge stat.”
On if there’s a benefit to being able to see Tennessee’s flaws in a game like this and challenge his team
“Oh, absolutely. Again, I think it’s great to see how we’re going to respond. I mean, no doubt about it. I mean, again, that front line, they’ve won a national championship, and again, they got good guard play today, but you look at it, again, I still think, you know, I felt it coming in, (the) front line would be the differences in the game. Now I didn’t think we would give them 30 points off turnovers. I didn’t think that. But again, give them credit. You got to give them credit. Got to give them all the credit.
“If we’ve got the kind of players that we think that we have, we’ll learn from this, and it can be a turning point. And on the other end, if we don’t change it, I think it speaks volumes about who we are, too, and maybe we’ve miscalculated.”
On Tennessee freshman forward Nate Ament playing well, being more intentional
“He played with a really good purpose today. I thought, kept it simple. Actually, when he turned it over, he reverted back to some of the things he did. But overall, I thought he had a really — Nate’s gonna be fine. I’ve said it all along. I don’t know, I’m sure people have gotten on (him), but I wouldn’t trade Nate for anybody. He’s a lot tougher than everybody knows. I don’t think he’s ever gotten a great whistle, and because every time he gets hit, everybody thinks because he’s thin, it’s not a foul. That’s not necessarily true, and I’m not talking today, I’m talking about in general over the whole year. I was proud of Nate and his mindset today.
On if he’s surprised by the inconsistencies of his post players so far this season
“Yeah. Well, somewhat. Somewhat, I guess, because you think you’re about to turn the corner and then, again, there’s a lot of guys who can do it in practice. It’s the guys that can do it when the lights come on. That’s where you find out against that outside competition. And again, I told our team coming in, it’s baffled me all year where I don’t put anything in rankings. Florida has, I think five losses, and I think four of them are to top-five teams. When you are defending national champions and you’re willing to, like Todd (Golden) did, open up in The Garden against Connecticut, which everyone knows is a road game. I think they played Arizona in (Las Vegas), basically a road game, you admire him for doing that. That’s where people who get votes don’t really have an idea of who the best teams are. If you’re just basing it on a team getting out, winning a bunch of games somewhere — and I think it’s helped them. Because early, and I don’t know if it affected their big guys as much, but with pretty much a different backcourt, I’m sure right now, they’re seeing the benefits of those games.”
*This is what Barnes said. The tone in his voice and the rest of his answer makes me think he meant that “I’m not seeing anybody I don’t think played hard”
