Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said that the Vols were “way too emotional” in the first half of their 85-81 loss against Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.
Barnes didn’t pinpoint exactly why that was the case but the emotional Senior Day ceremony for three key starters before the game seems like the most likely reason why. And that’s why Barnes wants to see the Vols do Senior Day differently.
“You don’t make excuses about it because it is what it is,” Barnes said. “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.”
Alabama and a few other teams across the country do its Senior Day ceremony after the game so that players can stay locked in before the game and don’t have to face the emotions of their final home game before tipoff.
Barnes likes that idea for that same reason and for another key one.
“Probably like that (after the game) because I think these guys deserve more than two minutes sometimes,” Barnes said of how he’d like to do Senior Day.” 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.”
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It was an extra sentimental Senior Day for Tennessee with the Vols honoring fifth-year seniors Santiago Vescoovi and Josiah-Jordan James as well as one-year phenom Dalton Knecht.
Tennessee clearly didn’t handle the moment the best they could though it was an admittedly very difficult situation to handle.
“You got the seniors that are playing at home and guys that wanted to play their hearts out,” Barnes said. “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.”
“It was really really tough,” James said postgame. “I can’t remember the last time I cried. I really couldn’t contain myself. Thinking about all I’ve been through, this group has been through and how proud I am of everybody that’s worked in this organization.”
With Saturday’s loss, Tennessee now has a 6-3 record in Senior Day games during Barnes’ nine seasons as head coach.
It was a tough situation for Tennessee’s seniors to be in, but as Barnes stated every team goes through it and the Vols needed to do a better job handling it. The key for them now is to respond the right and avoid the emotional, slow starts the rest of the way.
