Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the local media on Friday afternoon ahead of the Vols’ exhibition matchup against Indiana on Sunday afternoon.
The exhibition matchup is Tennessee’s final tuneup before the regular season with all the proceeds going to the John McClendon Foundation.
Ahead of the exhibition, Barnes discussed what he wants to achieve in the game, who will backup Zakai Zeigler, other rotational notes and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On the biggest thing on his checklist for Tennessee against Indiana on Sunday
“Some of the things that we didn’t do well against Davidson (on Sunday) that we’ve talked about and we’ve tried to improve on this week. To see that we’re making progress, to be alert mentally enough to do those things. There’s a bunch of them, to be quite honest, that we got to get better. But we always are looking for the kind of effort that it takes to compete at the highest level. But we want the concentration to details to be better.”
On what he didn’t like about the closed scrimmage with Davidson last Sunday
“A little bit of everything in terms of consistency. What we talk about, trying to really execute the fundamentals of the game. Whether it’s passing, fighting for your space on the court, rebounding both ways. Defensively, early in gaps, get there. Doing your job, doing your work early. I certainly don’t want us to be the best we’re going to be right now, but we just know that each day now you’ve got to continue to build on the areas that we’re continuing to get better with.”
On what he wants to see from Tennessee against Indiana
“Great effort, great intensity. That’s in every area of the game. I want to see our guys, we as a staff want to see our guys with concentration in terms of, we’re not going to know as much about (Indiana) as we would because they’ve got a lot of new players. And we haven’t exchanged any practice tape or anything like that. So it won’t be a normal prep the way we would normally like to do it. But in some ways that’s good because you’re going to have to be on edge, you’re going to have to be ready to help each other. And right now where we are as a team, that’s probably a good thing.”
On if JP Estrella (foot) is still limited, Tennessee’s overall health entering the exhibition
“Yeah, he is. And Jahmai too. They both hit knees the other day in practice and they both have been hampered by that. But we’ll see today. I think they’ll both will do a little bit and we’ll see by tomorrow. And then we’ll see by what, how it happens. But if not, it’s just an opportunity for some guys that probably wasn’t sure how much they would play, it gives them a chance to be ready to see what they can do.”
On if Tennessee is going into the exhibition for scripted minutes for players
“No. We’ll we’ll just play it. But we know we want to get looks with a lot of different guys and maybe some different lineups, but if we don’t have a full roster of guys, I’m not sure how much we can do that.”
On if these kinds of exhibitions can help establish Tennessee’s rotation
“Well I think it’s going to help both of us a lot because one, I’m sure like all college players right now, we’re all ready to start playing games. And I’m sure that, I have a great deal of respect for Mike Woodson and how he coaches and how he plays and what he does is put his players in great positions on the court, where they need to be and try to get them the ball and let them go to work, and solid defensively. And so with that said, we’re going to have to get our guys out there and hope that some of them will be the first time this group has been together and when there’s actually fans in the stands. And I’m sure there some of them will handle it different than others. But these are good. I mean these exhibition games are really good. Even the closed scrimmage against Davidson was great for us. I said many times I think with, as long as we practice now, we need to have about five of these. Because not only does it help us, I think we cut down on some injuries in practice because we go at each other so long. And I’ve said many times it would help referees to get their feet on the ground, get going. And that’s some something I hope that going forward the NCAA will take a look at.”
On what kind of progress Tennessee sophomore wing Cam Carr has made
“You know what, he has stacked together a pretty good last 10 days. And that’s what we’re looking for. The consistency in the right areas that we need him to be good in. And we think he’s got a chance to be an outstanding all around player. But the biggest thing I guess with he and all of our younger guys is the consistency in terms of being able to play at a level when they start getting fatigued. Can they maintain and not let fatigue be the reason they make mistakes.”
On how would he would assess Cam Carr’s knowledge and understanding of Tennessee’s schemes
“I think he understands what we’re doing, but it’s a matter of executing it at a high level, knowing that other teams are trying to keep you from doing what you want to do on both ends of the court. And so that’s where I do think he’s gotten better with cardio toughness. But I would say our team right now, we’ve got two, maybe three guys that are probably ready to go at the that level way we want to and these other guys need to get there.”
On if he knows what the rotation will look like
“No. I mean our plan would be to play everyone. That would be our plan and I think we will do that in this game certainly. Because if we play the way we want to play, we’re going to need all of them. Now. I don’t know exactly how much we will be allowed or be able to use JP or Jahmai with that said, but our plan would be to play all 11 scholarship players.”
On how important it is to see the transfers play in a big atmosphere
“I think it’s good in the fact that it’s going to be the first time they put on the uniforms and everything. We didn’t do that last week. We sometimes do that in the exhibition game, but we didn’t do it last weekend. And the fact that it will be a prep being a three o’clock game. We’ll go through it like we will on every game day from here on out. We weren’t able to do that last week exactly the way we want to do it. We’ll get close to being able to assimilate how we do things and that’ll be in itself a huge thing for our younger guys. We actually will start the day doing some of those things so they get acclimated to what they’ll be able to look at over the next really hopefully 35, 40 games.”
On who will serve as Zakai Zeigler’s backup
“Well you know, we’ve played a lot of different guys there at the point, but Jordan is ready. He’ll play that spot some. Bishop, Chaz has done it. Jahmai Mashack’s done it and I mean Z actually was the one to remind me, we’re kidding around the other day when we’re on our way to the SEC Media Days. He said, coach, you do know that Shack was your point guard and that when we went to the Sweet 16. So we’ve got guys that can step in there. Would they be at his level? Probably not, but they can certainly do the job.”
On what he liked and didn’t list about Chaz Lanier’s performance against Davidson
“I’m not sure. There’s nothing really I didn’t like. After games like that, you look at the things they can improve on and as long as the effort’s being made we can deal with that. And I thought he tried to make the effort that we’re asking to do the know-how, the still learning the system where he is got to be and the extra winning plays you gotta make, some of that’s new to him, but he wants to do it. There’s no question about that.”
On the importance of the exhibition for freshman Bishop Boswell
“I think it’s huge. That’s why I mentioned I wish we played more of them because I think anytime you can get outside competition and, again, like I say, I mean when you practice as much as we do, they’re ready. I mean, they were ready probably a month ago to start playing somebody else because we’ve been going at each other so long. And it’s not just (us), it’s every team in the country. I mean, if you talk to all athletes about where our schedule is now and the way our calendar is set up, they’re ready to play. And like I said, I think it would help a lot (in) ways that we could do more of these but the fact is it’ll be the first time experience for some of them. Even the older guys, the guys that have come in that are seniors out of the portal, it’s gonna be all new for them.”
On how transfers, returnees are meshing on the court
“I think we’re going to mesh in terms of because they like each other, they want to do well. Now in terms of continuing to understand what they have to do, that’s still going to be a work in progress. And as a year goes on, we’ll have to make adjustments because our players will make us make some adjustments. And so with that said, we just want to see certain guys do certain things and they can do those things, then we can add and build onto it. But if they don’t, it slows us down and then we might have to pivot and go a different way. But the fact is right now is the chance to see what a lot of them can do when against outside competition.”
