Tennessee basketball Rick Barnes met with the media Wednesday morning in Knoxville before the team leaves for the Sweet 16 in Chicago this weekend. The Vols will face two-seed Iowa State on Friday night looking to make the Elite Eight for a third straight season.
Ahead of the matchup, Barnes discussed the Cyclones, Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s ability to finish at the rim and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On what Tennessee has seen on film from Iowa State
“Toughness, defense, well-coached, really terrific point guard play. I think they really, as a team, they’re connected. They know who needs to be shooting it, when they need to be shooting it and just play extremely well together. But really excellent defensive team. Excellent.”
On the importance of Tennessee guards taking care of the ball against an Iowa State team that forces a lot of turnovers
“Whether we’re playing Iowa State, or — we’ve talked about it all year. And you guys know we’ve had a problem with it. But you can’t turn it over against a team, like them because, well, you can’t guard it, for one. And they’re gonna going to take advantage of it. So we have to take care of the basketball.”
On what Bishop Boswell did to limit his turnovers in Tennessee’s win over Virginia
“I thought he let it come to him. Looked like, from our vantage point, we thought he was pretty much in control and what we wanted to see out of him and did a lot of good things. Didn’t over-press the issue, probably the biggest thing.”
On what Tennessee learned in the final two minutes against Virginia, winning the game after giving up the lead
“We’ve been in close games all year, but I always think you learn something. I don’t think you ever stop learning. But you think about it, it was turnovers that put us in that position. But give Virginia credit because they’re not going to stop playing either. I thought JP Estrella’s shot was a big shot in the game. And I thought the last (stop), when Amari (Evans) went in the game, was a big defensive stand. Those plays. And I just, again, thought our guys, I think that if both teams play well, that’s the kind of games you’re going to be in and they stayed stayed in it.”
On what stands out about teams that keep advancing at this point in the NCAA Tournament
“Good players. And I think when I say good players, this time of year, I don’t think it’s any secret the guys that put the minutes in, they have to play well. You don’t want to see any of your players have a bad night this time of year. And I would say there’s focus throughout, but obviously the further you go, and you can feel it, the heightened focus. And that’s a big thing that we’ve tried to talk about with these guys at this time, that they take ownership. In everything, not just, practice, we expect them to do that. But preparation, they go about it knowing to take it deeper than you’ve ever taken it before. And they did that last week.”
On what has gone well for Tennessee center Felix Okpara on offense in recent weeks
“I think when Felix doesn’t worry about offense is when he’s really good on offense. I think when he just gets lost in the game defensively and he’s who he should be and becomes a star in that role, I just think his offense flows for him.”
On if his recent games have been as well as he’s played during his time at Tennessee
“Well, he’s had some really big moments for us. But the consistency, he’s always, for the most part, we’ve never coached a player that we could say that was great every night. But Felix has been pretty darn good for us since he’s been here. But I’m telling you, when he really locks in defensively and with the scout report, because he does take great pride in wanting to get out there and guard guards if he gets switched to them. Again, his offense just kind of comes
On if there’s a role for Felix Okpara in the NBA
“I think so. I mean, we know that he’s a dunker. They do play guys in that dunker position a lot. I think it is what he does. He’s a defensive guy. He rebounds the ball. He’s a shot blocker. And he hasn’t been able to do that as much. We’ve talked about that because he’s on the perimeter. He’s the one post guy that we take out there more when we start switching. And so he’s still young and getting going, and yeah, I think he’s got as good a chance as anybody.”
On if they prepare for Iowa State expecting them to have Joshua Jefferson
“You always do that, and you have to because who knows? I mean, we don’t know that. And I’m sure they would do the same thing if Nate Ament was still on that questionable list. But they’re a good team. They wouldn’t be where they are, obviously, with just one guy there. They’re such a well-coached, well-balanced team. And they’ll be, obviously, they’re going to be ready to play.”
On what they did well against Kentucky without Jefferson
“I don’t think they got away from who they were. I mean, I think that they defensively, they were outstanding. I mean, created 20 turnovers they took advantage of. A team that’s been in a lot of big games. When they got down early, not a big deal to them. They just fought the way back and got control of the game and didn’t look back.”
On if he enjoys scouting teams he’s not as familiar with
“I don’t think the word’s enjoy. I mean, it’s no different than what we’ve done up to this point. Obviously with, you win this one, you gotta know, so our staff’s already scouted both of them right now. And today, obviously, we’ll get to work. But there aren’t many surprises. I mean, they’re certainly going to probably add a couple tweaks here or there. They know that we’ll do something like that. But for the most part, there’s not a, everybody that’s playing, and we are who we are right now. And you’re not gonna mess with what you’re doing. You’re gonna still try to get it better, and, again, add some things. Maybe look at some different situations. It could be an out of bounds play. It could be a number of different things that you look at that maybe say, well we need to do something here. But they’re doing the same thing with us, but our coaches do a great job of they started working on it both teams, I’m sure Sunday night, when we got back.”
On Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s body control, finishing at the rim
“Well, one, he likes it. He enjoys it. We’ve talked to him a lot about picking his spots in there, but as I’ve said many times, he’s a highly competitive player. He does, and he’s gotten so much better at getting a feel for the game, and he’s gotten better at knowing when to take those opportunities. But he’s not afraid to throw his body around. He’s not, and he really wants to go in there and see if he can put a foul on somebody and pick up a three-point play.”
On how hard it is for a guard to willing accept contact at the rim
“It’s a talent. There’s no doubt, and he’s strong. Ja’Kobi’s very, very strong. You wouldn’t — people might not know that. But he’s got really great body control, and when he goes in there, when he’s trying to initiate the contact, I do think that there’s times this year where it’s come out his way. The other night he went in, great vertical defense, guy blocked a shot, but it doesn’t phase him. But all we’ve talked to him about is make sure you pick the right time to do it.”
On how much Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s feel for the game has grown since he got to Tennessee
“Tremendously. I mean, he’s a totally different player from that aspect. We’ve put a lot on him. We’ve talked about that. I mean, he’s played probably more minutes than we thought he would. We knew he was gonna play a lot, but as many (as he has), probably not. But he has grown from a basketball IQ point tremendously.”
