LAS VEGAS — Tennessee basketball took care of business in its Players Era Festival opener on Monday afternoon, coasting past Rutgers 85-60. The Vols led by 26 points at halftime and by as many 36 points in the second half before playing a number of reserves to close the game.
Following the matchup, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes discussed Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s explosion, turning the page to Houston and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On how he gets this Tennessee team prepared to go from playing Rutgers to playing No. 3 Houston
“Well, it’s difficult obviously when you play. It’s a tough three games for everyone out here. And just great respect for Kelvin (Sampson). We’ve known each other as long as anybody in business, and great respect for Kelvin and his team. We’ll get back and do everything pretty much in the ballroom, get ready. We know it’s going to be a hard, physical game. We know each other.
“But really proud of the effort for these guys. I thought Ja’Kobi (Gillespie) was terrific, continues to do what we need them to do, learning how to run the point for our team. But tomorrow there’s no doubt that he’ll have a lot of pressure pushed his way, along with Nate. And physicality will be a a little bit different probably. But this time of year, we like most teams here are still finding our way to. And you come out of this tournament knowing obviously a little bit more about yourself and which you need to go, which way you need to move, what direction.
“But we’ll look forward to it. We’re here and we love to play in big games. And they’re all big, obviously, but we know it’s going to be a very, very physical game.”
On what he said to Nate Ament in the first half and how it helped him get going
“You know Nate, he’s a very, very unselfish player. He’s played in, obviously we had two scrimmages, one against Ohio State, one against Duke and we played our games at home and we’re here. He’s learned something every game. He knows he went through some games where he pressed too hard early, just being a competitive player, wanting to try to make something happen early as opposed to let the game come to him. And he’s getting better and better with that. He missed a shot. And I was really impressed because he had been struggling a little bit from three. And one thing we’ve told him, we don’t doubt it. When you’re open, we expect you to shoot it and we expect it to go in.
And I thought after he missed the first one, he he really made a great effort to settle in with the next one and you could just almost feel like the lid came off of his thought process in terms of, okay, I’m good to go here. And he’s only going get better and better, just understanding how people are guarding him and adjusting from game to game. And he really has done a pretty good job overall with that. And I expect he will continue to do that. He’ll be a different player six weeks from now than he is right now, because of his mindset and (being) so unselfish. Whatever it’s going to take to help us try to win games, he’s going to do it.”
On Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s ability to play both on and off the ball
“Well he’d rather shoot it 50 times a game. Am I right?
Gillespie: “I mean, I shot 20 so.”
Barnes: “He’s a very versatile player and we do want him off the ball. That was why it was important that we— we like him off the ball but we also like him with the ball. He’s learning really for the first time in his career to play with a guy that he can lob to. I mean he’s never had guys he can lob to and he’s got a number of different guys on our team. So he’s had to learn that he’s had to learn our system, what we’re trying to do. But I think what he’s done really the last couple games, he’s really been able to get his teammates involved but yet keep himself involved and he’ll get better with that too.
“And we’ve seen him. He had 36 or so in scrimmage against Ohio State and so we’ve seen him have days like this shooting it and the next game against Duke, he came out pressing too much. I think he learned from that that. He’s just gotten better as a point guard. Off the ball, he knows how to play, he does. But I think truly in our opinion, certainly one of the very best point guards in the country. We wouldn’t trade him for anybody but off the ball too. We love him doing that because he’s gonna move, get open and he’s just very unselfish.”
On Bishop Boswell and JP Estrella returning, how they performed
“Well, coming out here we didn’t know if they were gonna play. We really didn’t. They both have done a great job of the rehab, spending time with Chad (Newman) and G(arrett Medenwald), and just really working at trying to get back. But when we walked into practice yesterday, they were both saying they were gonna try a little bit and we left them not much. And today we knew we had just a few minutes. We’re going to play them to see how they responded. They responded well from practice yesterday, we’ll see how tomorrow because we gotta obviously play the long game.
But I thought Bishop defensively, I thought both of them for the fact they haven’t had much practice came in and did a good job for us.”
On the tandem of Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament, what he likes about them
“Well first of all I like about them— they both have great work ethics. They want to be good. They know they gotta get better. They don’t take practice lightly. They come in and they work. How good can they be? They can be special, there’s no doubt about that because I think anytime you are willing to put the work in that they do — both of them are very unselfish and they’re still learning to play with each other. I can tell now when we get into some actions where they are really starting to see each other, find each other, which is important obviously. And defensively, they’re both a work in progress in terms of what you have to do. I mean, Ja’Kobi now is getting — he’s gonna get hit a lot. I mean, he’s guarding the ball. He’s gotten so much better from the time we’ve been with him. I mean, he is really — I think he can be elite on both ends of the court.
“Nate is, you know, physically, people are trying to really get after him, but he’s gotten better and will continue to get better. So when I think about both of them, it’s not just one or two things they do, it’s their all-around game and they both have really good basketball IQs. They can adjust pretty quick on the fly, which is obviously very important from the coach’s standpoint.”
On Boswell’s energy and defense
“Well, Bishop has had the good fortune to get to play against Jahmai Mashack for a year. He understands the importance of that role and can be better at it in terms of, he was able to learn from a guy that could really impact the game on that end. Bishop’s got himself in really terrific cardio shape where he can play even when he’s tired, which is, I mean, you’ve gotta be able to do that and really sustain that kind of effort. But he’s got great feet, but it’s an identity that he really wants to create for himself. Bishop played football in high school and he’s got that kind of mentality that, you know, he’s not afraid to get there and lock up with somebody and really go at it with ’em. I was really impressed with him today for the fact he hadn’t really practiced since the games he’s missed, but he stayed focused in terms of where we were in practice every day. Just really proud of what he did today. But he’s got a chance to be as good as he wants to be.”
On the value of playing in the Players Era Festival
“Well I think any time you’re in a situation this time of year with high-level competition, and it is. We’re all still trying to figure out, too, for the most part — I mean there’s a couple teams in the country with returning players, we know how important retention is. When you have as many young guys as we have and a lot of teams, it really is helpful. It is. Obviously it’s a great tournament. When it expands, it’s only gonna get better and better. But I just think it is great to have a chance to play against the level of competition that these guys get to before we, you know, got a month or so before we get into conference play. You get a chance to really leave here and know which direction you need to move in.”
