STARKVILLE, Miss. — Tennessee basketball bounced back from its loss at Kentucky Saturday night by knocking off Mississippi State 73-64 on Wednesday night. The Vols led by as many as 23 points in the second half before allowing an 18-0 run that made the game tight down the stretch.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes discussed the second half struggles, Nate Ament’s clutch late buckets and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On if he’s more concerned with the 18-0 Mississippi State run in the second half than pleased with the win
“Yeah, that’s the one thing when I talked to them I said, ‘How do we let that happen?’ And again, to this team, they’re like, ‘We had an 18-0 run?’ Like, they were shocked. And you can’t turn the ball over, give the ball to them out front. But we had some open shots that you got to make. But you put it all together, we just went through a period where I thought we let up. And you’re always concerned. I mean, Chris Jans is a terrific coach. Those guys aren’t going to quit on him. They got some guys, they can make some threes, and we left one of their better 3-point shooters open twice. And it goes back to concentration and not getting relaxed. And that kind of has been the story of our team. We get a lead and we start doing those things.”
On if it’s more disappointing having that kind of letup after blowing a 14-point lead in the loss at Kentucky on Saturday
“Yeah, it is. Because they’re saying and we’re talking about all the right things in the huddle. But it’s one thing coming out. But you can’t, like, Nate (Ament) got to it taken away from him. Troy (Henderson) got it taken away from him out there. Fe (Felix Okpara) doesn’t understand what we’re trying to do one time, and it gets us discombobulated. Just things like that. But still defensively, I wouldn’t — I thought Bishop really worked hard tonight on a really difficult player to guard (Josh Hubbard). But we still got to get more protection at the rim out of JP (Estrella) and probably more him than anybody.
“But we’re letting guys get down the lane on us. And we fouled. We came out early, I think it was 6-1 in fouls. And we’ve got to come out, just, I mean, it wasn’t going to be easy. We know. They’ve been in a lot of games here and it’s a good win for us and on to the next.”
On if Tennessee had defensive letdowns against Josh Hubbard or if he was hitting tough shots
“No (defensive letdowns), no. We just, if he’s going to get in, he’s going to have to shoot a lot of shots. I think he shot 24 shots to get 31 points. And I thought Bishop really worked hard to try to take him out. It’s hard to guard a guy that is doing a lot trying to get it. He chases it well, all those type things. But the disappointing thing is ball security. The way we turn the ball over, that’s the most disappointing thing.”
On Nate Ament getting it going late on a quiet night
“I thought coming down the stretch, you know he’s banged up a little bit. I could tell he wasn’t moving the way he normally moves, but at the end, when we needed him he came through.”
On JP Estrella responding from a bad second half at Kentucky
“I thought he was good. Again, he’s talking a lot. He does a really good job doing that now, and he’s getting better and better. I thought he played with more force tonight. We had a lot out of that side pick and roll to start the game, and he was able to make some good buckets there. But he is really doing a good job talking on defense and really trying to get out there and get on ball screens.”
On his assessment of the rest of the front court
“Well, I think really they should get the ball a little bit more. I do think that, but they’re going to have to, when they get it, they got to play quicker with it. DeWayne had two turnovers or put Jaylen in a tough spot twice. Where he was slow getting the ball and then tried to roll it to him, which you can’t do from the top. It just collapses too easy, and they just got to play quicker.”
On if Ja’Kobi Gillespie looked for his midrange jumpshot more
“I do. I think he did. Again, he went in there one time almost got himself in trouble, where he’s got to pull up that or you got to pull it back out. He can’t get stuck underneath the basket like he did.”
On how important it was for Tennessee to have Ja’Kobi Gillespie score seven points during a 9-2 run to open the second half
“It was important. I mean, he does a lot. He’s important to us. When he missed some shots, he stayed with it, but he had made a couple in a row, three or four in a row, and I said, ‘Hey, you’re doing great, but, man, you gotta work this game.’ Because he came down and had a little bit of a heat check, and that wasn’t the time to do it.”
On what he thought of Vols freshman point guard Troy Henderson’s nine minutes off the bench
“I like what he did. He played within himself. Both he and Amari (Evans), when they start trying to do too much, they get themselves in trouble. You know, we love Amari, but again, he went in twice, got his shot blocked. I thought Troy took an off-balance shot, and then obviously, as a point guard, you can’t lose the ball out front like he did.”
On what it is going to take for Tennessee to put together a forty-minute game
“Everybody getting better. Everybody understanding it. It’s getting smarter. I think we got a team that plays hard. They wanna do the right thing, but our passing’s not crisp like it is. I mean, we throw some horrendous passes. We’ve got to get better with that and we harp on it all the time, but those are the areas that we can definitely get better in.”
