Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes met with the media in the Bahamas on Friday night after the Vols knocked off Virginia 64-42 in their opening game at the Baha Mar Championship.
Barnes discussed the Vols’ second half offensive explosion, Darlinstone Dubar making his debut and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways As Tennessee Coasts Past Virginia With Dominant Second Half
On what changed for Tennessee in the second half
“Well, I think anybody that knows the two programs probably thought it would be that kind of a grind, certainly. And, you know, they’re well coached. We knew it was gonna be hard. Obviously, in the first half you’re trying to crack through there a little bit, not just settling for the perimeter shot. We didn’t get much out of the inside game tonight when we threw it in there. But defensively, I thought both teams played extremely hard in the first half.
“But second half, able to get some stops, some turnovers and turn those turnovers into some baskets. We just feel at some point in time, guys are gonna start making some shots. We had some early in the game that you’d like to make, which you’re not, but we just felt like the fact that we were missing shots, we didn’t let (it) affect us on the defensive end. We just stayed with it. And then obviously Chaz got going a little bit and some other guys. I thought he and Igor (Milici) played really well tonight. Jahmai Mashack’s defense on Isaac McKneely was really what we needed from him. Took care of the ball better in the second half. I think only one turnover.”
On scouting Virginia, them doing some things different
“Well, we did look but we still respect the fact that they’re well coached. Defensively they’re in position. They’re where they’re supposed to be. And I really feel that, like us, we’re more similar than people might think in terms of some of the schemes. They like to keep the ball in the middle. We like to keep in the middle. We like to get two games going on each side. Want people to load up on the white line, so we kind of both mirror each other in some ways in terms of what we’re trying to get done on the offensive end. And we know it works if you can do it, but we also know how it needs to be guarded just like they do. That’s why I think the first half was hard for both teams because they knew the concepts we like to play with and they did a great job. But, again, I thought that Igor and Chaz, when we we tried to angle it out a little bit more to give them a chance to play over there, and I thought Jordan Gainey did a good job with some good hard downhill drives, but we just had a period there where we were able to open it up.”
On what Darlinstone Dubar gave them and what he can long term
“Really proud of him. He has only had two days of practice — limited practice. We would have played him more in the second half but they really went with four guards, so we sized down with Mashack. He gives us the versatility to do that or he would have played more in the second half. The more he gets out there, the more comfortable he gets, the better he is going to be.”
On what Tennessee gets from this kind of tournament experience
“I think all of us get something out of it. I mean, even, you know, you obviously want to win games. We we all want to do that. But at this point in time in the year, you get you get to get excellent competition. You’re going to see teams that are sound and, again, (Virginia) I think is really a terrific defensive team. And you’re going to have to beat them. They’re not going to beat themselves.
“The only thing, I wish we’d play at 6 and 8 instead of 7 and 9 because of, you know, forced into a double overtime (in the first game) like that, which is an outstanding game, but nothing you can do about it. But if you think about, it’s 12:40 a.m. and our guys won’t get wound down until probably 3:30 in the morning. So that’s the tough part about this when you go back to back. But people will always say it kind of assimilates a conference tournament. (That’s) a long way off. We can handle that, you know? But right now, just the competition and getting here, and the guys, they want to play. They want to play as many good games as they can.”
On any memories he has that stand out from November tournaments
“Well, I can tell you what I think a key thing in our program, if you really want to know what as soon as you asked me that question, first thing came to mind is when we were trying to get our program going and we came over here (in 2017), and we were playing in the other tournament, and we were playing Villanova. And at halftime we were up big. And they came out, they rolled us (in the second half) and we lost the game. But it was a major teaching point for our program, with the guys that we had. And that group of guys went on and became very good, gave us some great gains because Villanova. What else I can remember is the locker rooms were paper thin and I enjoyed listening to Jay Wright rip his team. But they came out and they they torched us.”
