COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tennessee basketball got back in the win column Tuesday night, routing South Carolina 78-59 behind massive scoring outbursts from Felix Okpara and JP Estrella. The Vols led wire-to-wire in their final road game of the season..
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes discussed Estrella’s big night, responding to South Carolina’s run and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On what he liked from Tennessee forwards J.P. Estrella and Felix Okpara in the win
“What did I like about those two guys? We said that we talked about it all year playing inside out. And again, I, obviously I love the way those guys did it. But got to give a lot of credit to Ja’Kobi (Gillespie). (South Carolina was) determined they were going to make it a hard night for him. And the fact he had, what, 12 assists, maybe, what, one turnover, I just thought his command of the game from our standpoint was really impressive. And he’s responsible for those guys. He got them a lot of easy ones. And when I say easy, it’s not easy for him to get there, but he got it up and they were able to play over top of South Carolina a little bit.”
On how Tennessee freshman guard Amari Evans stepped up in his first start with Nate Ament sidelined
“You know he did (step up). I’m not surprised because I watch him every day. I watched him compete all summer. And I thought playing 32 minutes, he really did a good job. I thought he was really locked in to what we were trying to get done on both ends of the court. But hopefully it’s going to go a long way as we continue to finish this season out. And we told him the other night all these guys are closer to being sophomores than they are freshmen. We expect a lot from these guys. And at one time tonight, I looked out there and we had three freshmen and a sophomore on the court. Proud of our freshman class. But again, I thought Amari, just from practice this week and shoot around, all of it, preparing, I thought he had great preparation.”
On Ja’Kobi Gillespie running Tennessee’s offense the way he did, if it was his best performance in that area
“Probably. Lamont (Paris) teams, he’s a terrific coach and his teams play hard. And they’re physical. They were making it tough on him on ball screens. But I could tell he got a feel for the game and just in playing in flow and with our concepts. He just saw it. I thought the game was really played slow for him tonight, which is when he’s really at his best, when he’s seeing everything. And he was able to get where he needed to go and made some terrific passes.”
On how important Ethan Burg’s minutes off the bench were
“Really good, and we hope it’s something that we can build on. I didn’t think he looked real jumpy tonight. I thought he had a, defensively, we know he can guard.He enjoys doing that. But I think offensively, I thought he’d play with some pace, some really good pace. Walking back here to the locker room after the game, I told him, two plays at the end of the game when he was in there, he didn’t execute. And he said, ‘I’ll be in tomorrow to make sure I get that right.’ But he said he had never played other than the two guards, which means he didn’t know what to do on the other side of the court. But the fact that, I just thought he looked very calm today and very confident.”
On if he has an update on Nate Ament, how much time he could miss
“He looks good today. We obviously knew he was not going to play. Our doctors and trainers will tell us on that. I could just tell you, if it were up to Nate, he would have played today. I’ve told you guys all year, he’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever been around. The fact that he played in the Missouri game after that high ankle turn, he wanted to play the other night. Obviously, doctors didn’t think it was the wisest thing to do. I can tell you, if it were up to him, he would have played today. Obviously, the right decision was not to play him.”
On South Carolina cutting the deficit to six early in the second half, Tennessee’s response
“Well they came out and hit their threes and we overhelped too much. And that was, our game plan was to really keep it as tight as we could because Meechie (Johnson) is such a good player getting down(hill). And again, Lamont does a lot of good stuff, and they attacked the basket hard. I just felt to start the second half, they were really looking for the three more than maybe normal. But we were overhelping. ButI thought our response offensively was obviously much better. We didn’t panic. We just stay with the flow that we’ve been playing with.”
On the important of getting a do-it-all performance from JP Estrella
“Well, that’s what we need. I mean, that’s who he can be. I told him before the game, I said, ‘You know, a 16-point, 10-rebound night it would be great tonight.’ But I said, ‘you just gotta go after it.’ And defensively, again, most of the time both he and Felix is always good defensively against teams that spread it out. JP’s getting better with it but yeah, if he can do what he did tonight, and it would certainly go a long way to helping us.”
On if they know if it’s more of an ankle or knee for Ament
“I think if you asked him right now, it’s more of a high-ankle sprain. I think the knee is fine. But that’s what I think from just talking to him. What he was feeling last night and today, he was moving a lot better. It was more of the high-ankle sprain.”
On if he believes that Ament will play again this season
“Oh yeah. Absolutely. I’m telling you, he would have played today. If they would have agreed to let him play today. That’s who he is. He just wants to play.”
On what allowed Tennessee to have so much success on lobs against South Carolina’s defense
“We didn’t really run anything different that we’ve ran all year. I thought Ja’Kobi was terrific, I did. I thought he was terrific in seeing it. They were going (with) some really hard pressure and, you know, early he was making the right play on the rolls, and our post guys were making some plays. A couple other guys I think threw some lobs, too It’s those guys getting ready for it, and obviously we’ve got length down there and. But, again, the passer’s gotta be willing to throw it.”
On why he believes Felix Okpara’s scoring numbers have been up recently
“I think him getting in positions where he can score. And tonight, you know, on most of the dead-ball situations, we were obviously looking to play inside-out for the most part all night long, and that doesn’t necessarily mean throwing it in there. It’s doing some things on ball screens that we know we’re gonna get it in there, whether on the first side or the second side. We just need those guys to finish it.”
On how much this time off can help Nate Ament ahead of the NCAA Tournament
“I think it can. Because, you know, he’s had a long year, and I’ve said I don’t think anybody’s gotten beat up in college basketball more than Nate Ament this year. I don’t. But he’s never complained about it one time. I’m the one that’s complained about it because I think it’s real. But I like to think that it could be a blessing in disguise. But if it were up to him, because Nate’s a tough kid, he would’ve played. I guarantee you if this was our last game of the year, Nate Ament would’ve played.”
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