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Tennessee head basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the media Monday to put a bow on the Vols’ loss at Arkansas and to preview this week’s road trip to Missouri.
Foul trouble crippled the Vols in their, 58-48, loss at Arkansas. Josiah-Jordan James fouled out while Santiago Vescovi and Kennedy Chandler both had four fouls including a pair of charge calls on both.
Barnes was not pleased with the calls after the game saying “I hope I’ll feel differently after I watch” postgame. So, after watching the tape, how does Barnes feel about the calls.
“I felt pretty much the same after watching it,” Barnes said of the officiating at Arkansas. “First of all, it’s a hard game to officiate. Some games you don’t feel those tough calls go your way. over time you think it probably all evens out. What I do know is there isn’t a conference in the country that’s made more of a commitment to continue to improve our officials from top-to-bottom. … When I came into this league seven years ago it was about as bad as you could imagine. Where we have grown to today, you know it’s going to get there. Coaches are like referees. We’re not perfect.”
With the loss in Fayetteville in the rearview, Tennessee now turns its attention to Tuesday’s matchup at Missouri. The Tigers are 10-17 (4-14 SEC) and are struggling in coach Cuonzo Martin’s fifth season
“Our league is a tremendous defensive league,” Barnes said. “When I think of coach Martin and what he does, I think his team plays hard. I mean they really really play hard and aggressive defensively. They’re going to contest passes. They’re going to get after the ball. Anything that has to do with effort, they’re going to do it at a very very high level.”
Tip-off from Mizzou Arena is at for 7 p.m. ET. SEC Network will broadcast the game.
Barnes also discussed the growth of Jonas Aidoo, the Juwan Howard situation at Michigan and more.
