Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes met with the media Tuesday ahead of Thanksgiving and the Vols’ matchup with Tennessee Tech Friday.
The 15th-ranked Vols are 3-1 on the young season, splitting games Villanova and North Carolina after easy wins over UT-Martin and ETSU.
A few days removed from the Hall of Fame Tip-Off, Barnes discussed what he learned about his team in Connecticut.
“When we walked in on Sunday morning, the focus with our team was phenomenal,” Barnes said. ” During the walkthrough, we just simply go into the ball room and tape down a court. The coaches do their job with the scouting reports and the way those guys were locked in, the questions they were asking is impressive, especially because it wasn’t just the older guys. … Santi and some of the younger guys you could tell were were really locked in and that was impressive.”
The seventh-year head coach didn’t have any update on the torn ligaments in Josiah Jordan James hand. The timetable for his return in uncertain though Barnes did say it’s on his shooting hand.
Barnes also discussed the minutes Zakai Zeigler and Kennedy Chandler played together, Uros Plavsic’s foul problems, what he’s thankful for and more.
