Tennessee basketball dropped its regular season finale on Saturday afternoon as Kentucky knocked off the Vols 85-81 in Knoxville.
The Vols’ offense struggled in the first half but were down by just four points as Kentucky also had its offensive issues in the second half. Tennessee made run-after-run in the second half but it wasn’t enough as Kentucky kept answering with huge second half shots.
After the game, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes discussed the bad first half, Dalton Knecht’s big night and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways On Tennessee’s Loss Against Kentucky
On assessing Tennessee’s 3-point defense after a game like that
“Well, one, I said before they’re the most explosive offensive team in the country. And we were getting beat off the ball too much, middle ball screen. What they did, we thought would come. And they made the right play. They’re good. And I don’t want take anything away from them. John’s team always get better this time of year and they’re going to make shots. Even when you guard them, they make shots. But early in the game, they scored them off the broken plays, where I thought they were beating us to 50/50 balls.
“I told the guys after the game, I thought we were way too emotional at the start of the game. Didn’t execute. Very impatient offensively. Taking shots when we could have gotten more quality shots. And that feeds into them and let them get a little separation, they get comfortable, they can start getting out and going with it. And I thought we really did a good job cutting the lead back there. But we weren’t very good offensively in the first half. And I thought today’s score would, honestly, I thought it’d be a higher scoring game. It was. I really did. I expect to be pretty much up there, because both teams are going to play fast. But we had too many shots that were not high-quality shots. And kept (shooting) almost like we were just hoping we’d make one.
“But again, really proud of these guys. They fought hard. They’re regular season champions in the best league in the country. And disappointed, but like I told them, we’ll learn from this game because I hope we’re going to be in a lot more bigger games as the season goes on. And we can’t let our emotion get the best of us.”
On how Tennessee can better control its emption heading into the postseason when games are going to mean so much
“Well, a lot of it had to do with, you know, we’d already wrapped up the regular season and then you got the seniors that are playing at home and guys that wanted to play their hearts out. And they put too much pressure on themselves, thinking, hey, you got to get it done early. And knowing that, again, we had great respect for them and the program and what they do. But we were just too antsy, especially on the offensive end. We were just, I mean, first half defensively, but because of us playing faster, there’s obviously more possessions there. But with that said, free-throw line, we should be better. And I think Dalton’s got to do a better job of getting his teammates involved when teams are really pressing up on him. But I also think his teammates have got to make some of those open shots for us. And we had looked, we did, I just thought we just, and I don’t want to take anything away from Kentucky. I just thought we were way too emotional.”
On the last possession ending in a Josiah-Jordan James 3-point attempt after Dalton Knecht feel down
“We had a wide-open shot and he’s made that shot. So yeah, I mean, probably ended up being a better look than what we would’ve gotten, but didn’t go down.”
On if Dalton Knecht scoring 40 points is wasted in a loss like that
“No, I don’t think that. And again, I told him when I was taking him out, I said, man, you got to get the ball your teammates. So I said, you got to get them off of you. And the way you do that, is let those guys go get easy baskets. No coach is going to sit there and watch guys roll to the the basket, get dunks, giving up wide-open shots. You’re not going do that. And, again, he’s a high-level competitor and he’s a guy that, as we know, every shot he shoots, he thinks is going in. I just thought he settled on some of them.
“But our execution from the beginning of the game, from that point on we were just clawing our way back in. These guys keep fighting and think about it, with us where we were, we still had a chance there, maybe, but didn’t get it done.”
On needing Santiago Vescovi to hit shots going forward
“He’s got to do it. He’s been here, I mean, I wish I could (get him shooting confidently). If I could it, I would, I would do it. I mean, he’s going to have to do it. He’s going to have to trust in himself and believe in how good a player he is and he’s going to have to do it. And again, if I could, I’d have him all razor sharp every game. And the mental, the mental side of it, he’s got to do it and we need him to do it. And we need everybody, not just Santi. We need everybody to do what they can do. And again, we obviously, you got a guy (in) Dalton can get 40 points, but I’m telling you, he could have gotten his teammates involved more today too. He’s got to do that.”
On what it looks like for Dalton to get his teammates more involved
“Well, like in transition today, he’s bringing the ball down the floor and Jo to his left wide open. I asked him, I said, why didn’t you pass away? I didn’t see him. Because he’s so intent and he’s a terrific score and that’s what happens when you can score like that. But that’s where he’s going to continue to get better. I mean, but again, whether you’re in a double team, picking it up, making him play out all the type things and he’ll again, he’ll continue to get better with it, but I think you’ve got to get to the line more. And he’s got to do a better job with free throw line. And I know I’m asking a lot from a guy, but when we look at it and defensively, you know, they were getting at him pretty good and he’s going to have to continue to do that, playing on that end too.”
On if he believes guys learn more after losses than wins
“I’m really hoping this one we learn from, because again, I told our guys, I said, if we do what we hope to do, we’re going to be in games just like this and we can’t— when the game’s open, we can’t look back and say, well one, we didn’t execute the way we’re capable of and why and knowing that, I mean, we know our team. We were way out, way too emotional to start the game. And I said, you don’t want to end it on that emotion. You just got to do what we’ve done, believe in what we’ve done. Am I surprised? Not really. I mean we’ve had a brutal three weeks here and, again, I mean I compliment these guys, but what they did not a lot of teams can do. And again, you’re playing against a team that’s playing great basketball too. Again the most explosive offensive team in basketball. And with that said, do I think we can play better today? Yes. I don’t think there’s any question that we are a lot better than we played today. And you know, really specifically on the defensive end and like you said, too many wide open shots, broken plays where they made plays early in the game. I thought three loose balls that we should come up with and we didn’t and they scored on them.”
On if he’s concerned about being too emotional with more emotional games looming
“No. You’re always concerned on Senior Night because you’ve got more people around. You got your families in and all seniors want to win. They do and they want to play well, but you are always, we’ve been in such a rhythm, really, you think about it for four or five months and then all at once everything changes. And, and again, you don’t make excuses about it because it is what it is. Every team goes through it. But if you ask me personally, I’d probably do Senior Night differently. But because it’s different. It really is. It is but every team goes through it. But I don’t want to, again, take away— Kentucky did what they had to do every time they needed to make a big play. They did. When we needed to, we got some of them but not enough.”
On Tennessee’s key players staying healthy this season:
“I even think we can — I was prepared to go deeper. We put Freddie (Dilione) in today because in the last week he’s done some good things. We put him in to get his feet wet just in case we needed him in the second half because Zakai came out (due to foul trouble) and you know, Zakai playing eight minutes in the first half obviously hurts us. But we wanted Freddie to have a feel if Zakai picked up an early foul in the second half and had to get somebody out there.
“But again, I’m proud of the guys. Every one of ’em has improved. We can get better, we gotta get better, but I believe as a coaching staff, we believe in our depth and I think any game — you go back through the last six games, certainly the five that we won, there’s been a different guy in all five games that made the difference in the game. And that’s the kind of thing you want to have.”
On how to contain the emotions
“Living it. I mean that’s how you learn from it. I’ve always said, I’d much rather learn something with a win, but sometimes it’s a loss and our guys, I think know it. It’s not like — I was concerned when we won the regular-season championship my first year of Texas. We clinched it just like this, came home and lost to Missouri.
“But our team tonight played a lot harder than that team and this group, they came out wanting to win the game, playing an opponent like Kentucky who was better than that Missouri team at the time. But I did see the emotion. It was in my mind. It was, but didn’t mention it other than the fact that I just wanted us to stay focused and defend and they’re as difficult a team to defend as you’re gonna guard because they can get you from all different spots, but again, offensively, we gotta be better, gotta be better. Put too much pressure on the defense coach.”
On Antonio Reeves scoring 27 points
“Like he does everybody. He’s a high-level scorer. He can give it to you from different levels and John does a good job getting him in positions to where he can get some things done, but again, they’re surrounded by guys that can play and they’re hard to defend. But I thought again, too many times, we did open our heads up and let him get angles on us, which a lot of it has to do with they’re talented basketball players. They know how to do that. But again, John does a good job in his schemes, getting those guys in position where they could be effective.”
On how he would like to senior day done differently
“Probably like that (after the game) because I think these guys deserve more than two minutes sometimes. I think they deserve a chance to maybe speak to the fans that they love dearly. Let ’em interact with the fans a little bit more. But that’s something that I guess would have to be talked about from a lot of different people.
“But what Santi and Josiah’s meant to our program the last five years, I could stay here with you guys all night talking about stories and things they’ve done behind the scenes and what they do on the floor and in the locker room that they’re gonna go out as, you know, two of the all time great Vols.
“And then Dalton coming in. I mean, who could have guess that, or imagined it, or guess that he was going to have the kind of year that he’s had and he’s — again, it’s the first time he’s lived it and learning how to deal with the media that surrounds the SEC and all that. I mean, it’s really truly one most remarkable years I’ve seen one guy come in and do what he’s done.
“But Zakai coming back from a year ago. I’m baffled that he’s not (a finalist) on the Cousy Award. I’m just shocked because I know maybe he didn’t get off to the great start. But that guy, there’s not a coach in the country that would not want him to be out there. There are so many positives. And again, you want to win ’em all, you do. As long as we’ll learn from it this time of year and know that now it’s you either win or you go home.”
