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“I hope they’re right,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said about the officiating after the Arkansas game. “I hope they got them all right. I really do. I really do.”
There were a total of 40 foul calls made during Saturday afternoon’s meeting between Tennessee and Arkansas. And of those, 24 were called on Tennessee. With Josiah-Jordan James fouling out, and both Kennedy Chandler and Santiago Vescovi having to tip-toe the final stretch of the game with four fouls each, Tennessee’s offense just never found any rhythm in Fayetteville.
The game, from an overall perspective, was filled with questionable calls on both sides of the ball. For a highly-anticipated match-up between two Top 25 teams, Saturday’s contest was hard to watch at points, watered down with the frequent whistle on the court.
With so much of the game navigated through the lens of foul trouble, it only made sense that the same topic would be such a significant conversation during the postgame as well.
During his press conference, Barnes was noticeably frustrated with the way the game was called, although, in a polite manner. Barnes did not point the blame at any official in specific or the referee crew in general. However, he did continually hint at his disagreement with the way he saw things play out in real-time.
“It changed the entire game from our end,” Barnes said.
Tennessee vs Arkansas: Tennessee’s Offense Falls Flat In Loss At Arkansas
For Tennessee, it was the charge call that was giving the Vols the most fits. Arkansas center Jaylin Williams drew three charge calls in the first half alone, changing the way that Tennessee strategized their game.
“The guys were frustrated,” Barnes said. “I know it’s a hard call. From the referee’s standpoint, I know they would tell you it’s one of the toughest calls, but that’s the one they have to study, study, study. When a guy leaves his feet he’s got a chance to come down and you can’t slide in at the end. … You have to play on, but does it affect them? Absolutely, it does. I hope I feel different after watching the tape because I know how I feel right now about it. I really do hope I feel different after seeing the film.”
When speaking directly about the charge call, one part of Barnes’ frustration was dealing with the unbalanced application of the rules in different areas on the court.
“It’s a tough call,” Barnes said about the charge. “We try to make it easier on referees by having a circle. Now, I don’t know if anyone was in the circle, but you’ve got to protect the guy that leaves his feet. Just like from the three-point line. If a guy goes up, you’ve got to give him room to come down. And the same thing has got to be true when you take off. [When] a guy gets up in the air, you can’t slide under at the very end. And I hope that wasn’t the case.”
As mentioned earlier, Tennessee finished the game with 24 foul calls. The Vols struggled to find any offensive rhythm, especially towards the end of the game with three offensive fouls called in the final 11 minutes. On the flip side, Arkansas’ leading scorer J.D. Notae did foul out but was the only Razorback that came close to foul trouble by the game’s end.
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“You hope that [the calls] even out,” Barnes said. “I look at our guys and we had, what, how many guys in foul trouble? I think they had one. [J.D.] Notae got in foul trouble. But some of those calls go different ways, they’ve got to deal with foul trouble. We had to deal with it all.”
Without directly calling out the officiating crew, Barnes did say during his postgame press conference that everyone involved with the game has to be at their best this time of year. And Barnes is exactly right. Not just for Tennessee’s players, but for all the players that have worked hard to get their team to this point in the year. This is exactly what can’t be happening this time of the year- a crucial Top 25 matchup that was watered down with questionable officiating resulting in 40 total foul calls.
“But, again, it’s a tough job,” Barnes said. “It is. But this time of year, I’ve got to be at my best coaching, referees have to be at their best, players have to be at their best. This is down to where it’s on. The heat is on. And everyone has to be working at a high level.”
No. 16 Tennessee fell to No. 23 Arkansas on Saturday in Fayetteville by a score of 58 – 48.
