Vols head basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the media following Tennessee’s 65-54 win over Florida on Sunday afternoon to discuss his team finishing the regular season on a high note going into the SEC Tournament.
Barnes discussed the play of John Fulkerson, why Tennessee was able to turn it around after a slow start to the game, the Vols winning the rebounding battle, what it means to secure a double-bye in the SEC Tournament and much more. Here’s everything Barnes had to say:
“I thought at the end of the first half defensively we started getting a little more locked in. I thought we started settling in a little bit. I wasn’t sure how we’d come out, I wasn’t sure how the timing would be once we got out against outside competition. I think the pace in the first half, even though we weren’t scoring, and guys turned down some shots. We’ve gone back and showed them so many times when they turn down shots that leads to turnovers that we normally have. Florida was aggressive to start with, and I thought we settled in with that and got aggressive ourselves trying to go beat it as opposed to just being content to get it in. It was a good win for us. We needed it. I think a week off, from an emotional standpoint for these guys, has helped them. We’ve got another week here and that’s going to be a little bit different, but we just have to see if we can use it to our advantage.”
On why John Fulkerson was aggressive:
“I told him at halftime if he’ll get back to playing with that force, we’ll get back exactly where we want to be. This week if he can just get that and get it bottled up, it’s going to be good for him and be good for us. No one loves this university more than he does. I think he would tell you he’s been a Volunteer his whole life, and for him it was an emotional day. For him to come out and play aggressive and with the force that he did at times is what we need. I’m happy for him.”
On Tennessee rebounding better:
“Josiah was the first guy I saw when I walked in today, and I said, ‘Jo we need 10 rebounds out of you, and he said, ‘I’m going to get 10.’ We went through a segment there where I knew players were a bit fatigued, because they play hard. They cut on offense. They play hard on defense. That segment where I think we got four or five offensive rebounds, we were just getting to the ball a little bit quicker. I thought the rhythm that we got into in the second half, doing some things on the offensive end, the guys were taking shots. It’s just guys making the effort. We’ve got to get back to getting offensive rebounds.”
On Tennessee’s preparation over the past week with not having a midweek game:
“We took Sunday and Monday off, and came in and went Tuesday and Wednesday. A little bit harder on Tuesday than Wednesday. Thursday off again and got on a two-day prep like we like to do—Friday, Saturday, and a little bit more on Friday and very little yesterday. We came in this morning. We really try to keep it to a minimum, and the pace slows down. The pace slows down right now because there’s so much we’re talking about. We did go up and down, because they wanted to. They wanted to play. They wanted to get up and down the court, and the second team wanted to go at it with them a little bit. This week we’ll probably take two days off. We haven’t really looked at it because I haven’t thought about it. Even when we give these guys days off, they don’t take it. They’re in the gym on their own. I think this time of year, each guy knows what he needs physically with his own body. Some guys feel like they need to touch a ball every day. Some guys need to rest. There’s not a day that goes by that they don’t come in here and work on their bodies with (strength coach) Garrett (Medenwald) or (trainer) Chad (Newman).”
On only having 13 turnovers:
“We showed them last night probably 15 or 20 clips where if we would’ve shot the ball, we wouldn’t have turned it over. Like the play here at the end when we had a shot clock violation. If you get deep into the clock, you can’t pass the ball with two seconds. Santi did that. Even when we’re 2-for-13 from three, I would rather do that than have those turnovers. Those turnovers lead to baskets for the other team. I have confidence that we’re going to make shots. We’ll just take open shots, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a three. In the first half, we stopped ourselves twice on drives. VJ made a couple of good plays at the rim. Jaden came in and did it. We’ll shoot the ball, we’ll get offensive rebounds, we’ll get stick backs, and we’ll just get guys ready to shoot it.”
On the performance of Vols’ sophomore guard Josiah-Jordan James:
“Josiah is one of those guys that will tell you he loves being in the gym. It hurt him because he couldn’t do anything with his left hand. He couldn’t shoot for two weeks. He wants those reps. Guys that grow up being in the gym all the time, it’s almost addictive to them. If you don’t do it, you feel like yourself. Even if it’s just coming in some days and shooting free throws or working on some simple ball-handling drills, I think he needs that more for himself than anybody. He’s so mature, and he’s a guy that we have a lot of trust in. We’re going to listen to what he says. He might call and say, ‘coach I want to get up 300 shots today.’ We listen to him because there’s certain guys that you just know they know themselves. He’s one of those guys that never wants to take a day off. When he had to shut to down for those two weeks, it set us back. I was proud today that he took it hard to the rim one time and tried to dunk. That’s what we want to see him do.”
On it feeling like a postseason game:
“Winning is hard. I don’t care what level you coach, or what level you play, winning anything is hard. When you play Florida, you know you are going to be in for a fight from start to finish. You play anybody in this league, or anybody outside the league, winning is hard, and in the ebs and flows of the game you have to deal with it. Emotionally, you have to deal with it. What I liked about our guys, I thought their attitude was terrific this week. I thought they got locked back in to some things, and I think we got healthy in some ways. I thought that EJ Anosike had a good week, and with guys right now, if we can even get a couple minutes here or there with him and Olivier. With Uros, we were prepared to play Uros today, because we thought if Casselton got going that Uros’ length could come into play. Ticket went in, and those minutes are valuable minutes. Then the energy they bring, and the fact that they’re making the other team work hard, even if they don’t score, they’re bringing energy. I know we trust them defensively and we trust what they do. So, for our team morale, it’s just getting everybody locked in and on the same page this time of year, and it’s all you can ask for and it’s all you want. But understanding that we need everybody, because again, winning is hard.”
On how important the double-bye in the SEC Tournament is:
“I’ve seen some teams take advantage of being in the fourth seed, some teams get going early and can play through it, but obviously if you look at it, in terms of playing the last game, that’s what you want to do from a fatigue factor. I can go back to the last time we were in the championship game, we had to come back hard against Kentucky, and we gave everything we had. I couldn’t imagine having to play a day before that and do that, because it’s hard. Like I said, winning is hard, and it’s supposed to be. If you want to be good at something, you’re supposed to work hard to get good at it. But obviously getting the double bye, you like to think it works to your advantage.”
On if getting the double-bye can provide the team confidence:
“Yeah, you’d like to think so. I try to not read in to a whole lot of it, other than our team and what we need to do to prepare and get ready. This time of year is the time of year where I hope guys get really excited about playing and wanting to play, and understanding if you start watching basketball this time of year, it does almost get down to a possession game where every possession matters. Again, with all the things we’ve talked about all year, you’d like to think guys will be more keen and alert, and they’ve learned a lot through this right now. What do we have to do to get everyone to bring their best right now? It’s everybody. So, the mental part is really important, but physically you have to be healthy. Like with Villanova, they’ve lost two players, and it breaks your heart. Think about Florida and Tre Mann, they start out their season losing the player of the year, then one of their better players doesn’t get to play today, those are tough. What we’ve learned through that too, is we’ve seen it happen. We watched Illinois go beat Michigan without their best player, because everybody in the D1 level can play. Regardless of what’s in front of you, you’ve to be ready, as we’ve seen too many things happen in a 40-minute game, and just because someone is down somebody, doesn’t mean they can’t compete. Believe me, if we lose some guys, I promise you I’ve never coached a game I didn’t think we were going to win. I don’t care where I’ve ever been. Every game I’ve been a part of, that we’ve played an ability to win as an assistant coach, head coach. Every team in the country feels like that in going out on the court.”
On John Fulkerson’s screens he set:
“We said it, if they’re going to get in the back court, we’re going to use some set screens, and give our guys some space to go. I’d like to think that if they want to attack us with pressure, let’s attack them with pressure and put pressure on the rim. With him back there doing that, he did his job. John’s never going to do anything to hurt anybody like that and I admire Appleby, he took a good pop and came right back in. You saw Fulky go right out and tell him it was nothing intentional, because that’s John Fulkerson. Our guys have a great respect for Florida, they do. They know they play hard and compete, but we need to play with force, whether it’s setting screens, blocking out, we need to have that mentality.”
On making it through the regular season and getting into the postseason:
“It’s been an unbelievable accomplishment for all of us in college basketball, because it’s unlike anything I’ve witnessed in my life. Over the last couple weeks when things aren’t going well, and we want to always be perfect, but no team doesn’t go through it. I told Kim English today, one thing I miss about wearing these masks, is seeing our guys smile, to see their face and to look at it and read it. I think about it, I don’t know the last time they saw my face, because when I’m in the locker room with them I’m going to wear my mask and do what we’re supposed to do. I think about our freshman, who have been here, and nothing is normal, in terms of what we started out with. So, to think about how the SEC took it from the beginning, to say we’re going to work our way through this, to what we’ve done on campus with our leadership here, the athletic department, into what our doctors and internal staff has done, it’s remarkable. The fact is, I don’t think any of us can understand what guys go through, when all they do is class, here, and back to their dorm, because we’ve asked them to do that. We normally give them all the time with family, but it’s tough to say, ‘Hey look, we have to go and keep this thing to a minimum, because we’re trying to protect everybody to get to this time of year. So, we started testing again today to get everyone ready for postseason and we have to lock it down more than we’ve ever locked in down. I don’t know how much more we can lock it down since we’ve had it. But It’s been a year, when I look back, that I’m certainly impressed with the leadership from the highest level down. More importantly, I appreciate what our guys have done, because I know it has not been easy on them. I know what it’s like to be a kid, I don’t know if I could do what did as a kid. I’m one that wouldn’t adhere to the rules as far as my personality, but the fact is I admire our guys for doing the right thing, and I know it’s been hard on them. Not just us, but for any team in college basketball.”
