Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the media on Tuesday afternoon and put a bow on the Vols’ road win at Kentucky before previewing Wednesday night’s matchup against LSU.
Barnes discussed the growth of Zakai Zeigler, this LSU team and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said on Tuesday.
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On what he liked most about Tennessee’s win at Kentucky
“Probably the preparation going into it. It was good all week. And then I really felt like what we did as a coaching staff, felt like how our older guys had really prepared, helping each other I thought through the week. And we talked about them holding each other accountable. And by doing that, obviously, it was a good thing because we felt like, we’d kind of gotten away from that accountability part with the players. And so that was a good part of it, along with the fact that I thought we played with a lot of confidence and that’s what we wanted to do.”
On Tennessee freshman wing Cam Carr getting minutes in the first half at Kentucky
Well, you know, he and I had been talking … he was asking what do I need to do to play? What do I need to do to play? And I obviously keep talking about defense and those type things as opposed, because we know that he’s a good offensive player. And you remember his game at North Carolina where he went in and took as quick of a shot as you could take. And during the day of the Kentucky game, I looked at him and I said, hey, Cam, just tell me if I put you in the game, what would you do? What would I expect? And he said, coach, I tell you what I would do, I’ll give us an extra possession. And I said, yeah, that’s a great answer. That really is. And I told the coaches, we get a chance, we’re gonna get him in there. And he went in and did exactly what he said he would do because he’s worked hard in practice at getting better defensively. And he earned that. And hopefully he can build on it.”
On how Tennessee can build some consistency coming off the win at Kentucky
“I wish I knew that. We have a system that we stick with, we stay with. And we hope that, we know the ebbs and flows of any sport that you’re in. I don’t care what sport you play, everyone always talks about consistency. But you got to be able to, in those moments when it’s not going the way you want it to go, you’ve got to find a way to compensate for that and hopefully you’ve got enough to get the job done when you’re not at your best.”
On what his message was to Tobe Awaka during the timeout after the scuffle with Kentucky players
“I’ve told Tobe many times, I said, you don’t have any idea. He didn’t do anything wrong, because this is guys competing, going at it. I said, how the physical impact that you can have, we need you to be aggressive, not just with that, but all parts of this game. And I I’m not sure there was much to that situation other than the officials did what they had to do by rule. But I just felt like he was in there competing as hard as he could and I appreciated the fact that personality, we need to see it more.”
On how encouraging it was to see Tobe Awaka have that kind of moment after struggling in recent games
“We have great expectations for Tobe. And I tell everyone that he’s still young to the game. He’s got such a bright future. But he cares a lot. And when you have players that really have a deep care for themselves and their teammates, this obviously makes you feel good because you know how much he cares and how much he doesn’t want to disappoint. He wants to do what’s right for himself, and most importantly, he wants to make sure he is doing his job for his teammates.”
On Josiah-Jordan James calling the scuffle a ‘we’re not going to lose’ moment, if he felt the same way
“Yeah. I think those guys had a mindset, first of all, we have great respect for Kentucky and the job that Coach Calipari does there. And we knew that you’re going to have to play 40 minutes, which proved to be true. They’re not going to stop playing. But, yeah, I just thought from the beginning we had a really good mindset.”
On putting Zakai Zeigler’s game in perspective after watching the tap
“Well, honestly, after the South Carolina game, we talked to him about (how) he’s got to get back to being who he really is. And part of that is holding people around him accountable and, in the way that he does it. I’ve said from the beginning, from the time he walked on this campus as a freshman, what he brought— if you never know until you coach it— is in his DNA and we need him. That’s who he is. But he’s getting so much better at learning how to play the point. Because it, he never was a true point guard coming in. But he’s got a knack to score, which we know that. But he’s taken great pride in watching a lot of tape, learning how to make decisions out of ball screens, all those type things. And you guys watch him when you watch his practice. What you see during the game, that’s what he does in practice every day. But a great effort and really just a terrific game from him.”
On if Josiah-Jordan James did anything different in the Kentucky game
“I thought he slowed down but you know what? He’d been making shots in practice and so like I said, Jordan (Gainey) went through it. Other guys have gone through it that maybe people don’t notice it as much, but I thought Josiah, like I’ve said many times, I think he got away, he and Jordan, both when they were struggling, everybody thought they were struggling. You don’t have to make a shot to impact the game. And he had great rhythm in his shots. His first one that he shot was his kind of rhythm that he needs to shoot with. But he did so much more than make threes for us. I mean, he was one guy that was doing a great job getting to the glass for us, and really trying to rebound against a really good rebounding team period. But I just think he got lost in the game and let it come to him.”
On what stands out about LSU
“Coach McMahon does a really good job. He’s been successful everywhere he’s been, able to build his roster. He walked into a very difficult situation a year but was able to use the portal to get what he felt like he needed to continue to build the program the way that he wanted to build it. Very explosive team. They’re very difficult to guard. A lot like Kentucky, can make extremely difficult shots even if you guard them. Really good schemes. And he gets the matchups that he wants and he’s done a really good job putting together a group of guys that can, first of all, they’ve played in big games. They’ve been in big games so like every night in this league, if you’re not ready to play, it can be a long night for you.”
On the best defense for a team that likes to penetrate and kick
“Control the ball. That’s the best option (more than) anything, is (if) you can control the ball, which is a lot more difficult than you think, but if you can keep people, keep your defense outta rotation, which is really hard to do. And then when that does happen, how well can you scramble out of it and still contest shots and stay in position to rebound the ball?”
On Zakai Zeigler’s ability to watch tape and understand what he’s seeing now compared to two years ago
“I learned this my first year in coaching (from a) coach by the name of Marv Kessler. Said to me one day, ‘most people can only see the ball and a person in front of it. If you wanna be a good coach, you better learn to see all 10 of ‘em.’ I would think that’s probably true as of Zakai. He’s starting to see where the other nine guys are on the court. It’s almost like he’s learning how to take a photo of it and starting to process it quicker and starting to learn how to use his eyes to look people off and make those quick passes. Just comes with time. He’s still young to the game and his decision making is just gonna continue to get better and better.”
On what the conversation was like when he told Zeigler to change his demeanor and how he responds
“He said, ‘I know.’ What he always says when you talk to him, ‘it’s on me. It’s my fault.’ He never shies away from, if he thinks he doesn’t do something the way it should be done, he’s one of the first guys that’s able to say, ‘Hey, that’s on me. I gotta do better.’ And I think he understands how much he and his teammates mean to each other. And it’s hard to ask players sometimes to get on to players. And in a way — not in a way to be negative. It’s in a way that you show ’em that, when they’re really getting after each other, all they’re saying to each other, ‘Hey, we want to win.’ That’s what they’re saying. It’s not like, whether it’s just do your job, whatever it may be. That’s what they’re saying. “Hey, we wanna win this game. We gotta hold each other accountable.’ And when that starts happening as a team, that’s when, from a coaching standpoint, you feel pretty good about things.”
On how to adjust to a big man who can make three’s like LSU’s Will Baker
“Well, it’s tough. If we’re in switching situations, obviously we can get out there, but ball-screen coverage, depending on if they pop or roll, it is a different thing. But that’s the one thing that we’ve worked at all year trying to get our post guys to be able to get out and guard further away from the basket.”
On if he’s asked anybody else on the team to change their demeanor
“I haven’t asked anybody to change their demeanor. I’ve talked to ’em about doing what we know they’re capable of. I want these guys to be who they are and we’ve got some competitive guys, but the point is, holding each other accountable. When you get that from a team, that’s when I think you can get some growth.”
