Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the media in Detroit on Thursday afternoon a day before the Vols face off against No. 3-seed Creighton in the Sweet 16.
The Vols’ ninth-year head coach discussed what stands out about Creighton, how he’s adapted as a coach and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said on Thurday.
More From RTI: What Creighton HC Greg McDermott Said Ahead Of Sweet 16 Matchup Against Tennessee
On what stands out about Creighton
“Well, there’s a number of different things. Obviously, one, transition. They’re a really terrific team in transition. Discipline. They really have, I think, a high level basketball IQ. They know each other so well. They know what they’re looking for. They know to play within the rhythm of what they do. Just an extremely sound team defensively. They do a great job of helping each other.
I’ve known Greg for a long time, coaching against him in the Big 12, and just a terrific basketball coach. His team, I think, plays the way he wants them to play.”
On Barnes talking to McDermott before he took the Creighton job
“One thing I’ll tell you about Greg is he’s a program builder, and really truly a great offensive mind. After every time we played him, I would take something from what he did to us and add to what we were doing.
I’m sure the conversation would’ve been, one, everyone would want him in the league because he stands for all the right things. He’s done it the way that you’d want any coach to do it. He’s a guy that could coach at any level.
Again, when you’re in a league that’s as competitive as the leagues are that we’ve played in, you want to know the person you’re competing against is doing it the right way. You knew he would do that. You knew he would build a high-level program. I think he did that.
He has done it certainly at Creighton and everywhere he’s been. You ask anybody that’s in coaching today about him, they would have the utmost respect for him, obviously as a basketball coach, but as a person that represents our business the way you want it. You can’t find one better.”
On Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, Tennessee’s experience playing against elite big men
“Again, he’s a terrific rim protector. I think, when they use him on the offensive end where he facilitates, he sees the floor, great feel for his teammates and what he wants to do. I think he does a really good job of finding his space where he wants to be effective.
We’ve played against players, like you mentioned, but they’re all different. He’s a tough cover for our post players, and obviously their drop coverage that they use. He’s just kind of daring you, what are you going to do here? Forces you into making the right decision. But he’s a person that you’ve got to give a lot of attention to.”
On Creighton’s Baylor Scheiermann and Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht being examples of the good parts of the transfer portal
“Yeah, I don’t think there’s any question that you give young people an opportunity and they can make the most of it. I think we know there’s players — in this tournament, you see players that play at different levels that can shine when the big lights are on them. I think both of those guys have made just unbelievable impacts on their teams.
Scheierman, when you see him, he’s relentless. You can’t stop him. He’s got a great feel. Again, Greg has done a great job putting all those guys in a position where they have a comfort level about them.
They play a lot of minutes. They don’t foul. But he is another guy where, if you just blink for a second, he’s going to beat you some way. So you’ve got to be on edge.”
On balancing building a program and wanting immediate success
“I think obviously the key is adjustments. When the game changes, you’ve got to change and make the necessary adjustments. But I do — we do believe in building through — we want high school players. Now, if I were at a different level, I might not think that today. I think a year from now when the COVID year is over with, it could sway back a little bit where the older guys aren’t here, not as many older guys.
But I think that’s been the case throughout our time in basketball is that there’s been so many different changes from everything. So I think you have to be able to adapt. The guys that I know that I’ve been able to grow up in the business with that are still with us and doing it are guys that have had the ability to adapt but not get away from their core philosophy in terms of what they believe.”
On what it means to him to see his players have success
“Again, I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to be a part of college basketball for a long time. They get a four or five-year run. It is something that they will look back one day and think that, hey, I had a chance to be a part of that.
It’s something that you never, ever take for granted. To get here is hard. It’s getting harder and harder every year. And we know that every seed has proven they can win, and it’s hard to move on.
I love it for our players. We’ve got a good group of guys. A year ago they found a way to get to the Sweet 16 without Zakai. As coaches, we do what we do for the players. We appreciate when they do what we ask them to do as well. And when you get a group of guys that have bought into each other and are willing to play for each other, you want to see it last as long as you possibly can.”
On Santiago Vescovi’s status
“Yeah, he’s just under the weather a little bit, but we expect him to be ready.”
On the unique challenge facing Creighton’s drop coverage ball screen defense, not being baited into mid range jumpers
“We don’t care about the — we do what we do. We’re not based strictly on analytics. We’re going to get our players in position. If they’re good mid-range shooters, we want them to take those shots.
What makes them good is because they’re solid, they do what they do. They’re a team that they don’t foul.
Believe me, I don’t think there’s a team in the country that teaches to foul. We don’t want to foul either. We want to play a little bit different than they do, but yet we’re not trying to foul, I can tell you that. They’re a good shooting team, a free-throw shooting team.
There’s so many different ways you can play defense, just like there’s so many different ways you can play offense. They’ve got their style that’s gotten them here, we have, and you can pretty much expect both teams are going to do what they do that’s gotten them this far.”
On how he’s evolved as a coach with his relationships with his players
“One, I’ve always known it’s about them. There’s times in the past I didn’t do a great job. I’ve said many times I’ve gone back and apologized to players that I didn’t think I did my job with them.
I think, if you ask our players today, it would bother me if they didn’t tell you I was the most consistent guy on the floor every day. I’m going to do my job, but when it’s over with, I’m going to — we’re two people, and I’m going to respect them for that. But I hope they respect the job as a coaching staff we have to do.
Again, I think the best thing a coach can do is consistency every day. Whatever it is you’re demanding with your details, you’ve got to stay with that. When it’s over with, you want them to know, hey, if you’ve been on them hard, there’s a reason behind it.
But I don’t want them to ever not look forward to coming back to practice, not looking forward to coming back to their individual workouts, whatever it may be.
It goes back, and it’s not just me, it’s our staff. We’re constantly talking, our staff. We have a great feel for our team. When you’re around people as much as we’re around each other, you can read body language. You can read where guys are. And the question to me is transparency. You’ve got to confront it head on. You can’t just think it’s going to go away if there is a problem.
A lot of it goes back to our staff. I just have a great group of guys around me that are as fully invested as you could possibly be.”
