Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the local media on Friday afternoon ahead of the Vols’ top 10 matchup against Alabama on Saturday.
Ahead of the matchup, Barnes discussed Dick Vitale calling the game, Alabama guard Mark Sears and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
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On how important the play of Felix Okpara has been recently and how badly Tennessee will need him on Saturday against Alabama
“(He’s been) great. And we need more, absolutely. He continues to work hard individually, trying to get better and know that we need that from him. Cade (Phillips), we need it from Cade. And but we’d love to get more of it.”
On what Tennessee has done well the last two seasons against Alabama’s offense
“Well, I don’t know. I mean, some of it we all know, when you’re making shots, I know this, when games are over with, again, I talk about they’re trying to do what they’re doing, we’re trying to do what we’re doing. And they still sometimes get the look I think they would say that was good. And as you know, sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. But I just feel that both teams have really have competed at such a high level both ways.
“And I think they’re a better defensive team this year. I’m really impressed with them as offensive rebounders. And I look at how they play, we know that Nate (Oats) has done a tremendous job with his style of implementing what he wants to get done and got his players buying into their roles. And I’m just impressed with the consistency in which they’ve played the last couple years since he’s been there, and the fact that they know what they’re looking for. And he’ll tweak some things here or there, but he has stayed true to what he believes.”
On if there has been a common thread for Tennessee starting slow in recent games
“I got to give credit to our opponent. They started switching the other night at LSU. We had prepared for them to be in drop coverage, which they’d been in most of the time, what we had watched. And so they came out and was started switching the ball screens and those type things. And it took us longer to adjust than you’d like. But again, I’ve got to give credit to our opponent. We’ve turned it over sometimes in ways that we can’t, but again, we got to give credit to our opponent because I don’t think we’re trying to turn it over. But for whatever reason, we have.”
On if he enjoys facing different styles of basketball played by opponents or if it makes just job more difficult
“Well, I don’t know if teams are doing a lot of (different things). I think there’s a lot of people that are into the zoom action, a lot of ball screens and driving the ball. There’s only so many different things you can do. Some people want to be a heavy ball-screen team, a lot of teams with their zoom actions. But everybody you play, there’s some things that you have seen probably for the most part, certainly by this time of the year. And everybody, you can tell what coaches obviously are emphasizing more. But we’re in a league where there’s a lot of skilled players, a lot of teams that are doing a lot more movement away from the ball, still teams that rely heavy on ball screens, some teams will still throw it inside. But it’s just from game to game and whatever that team’s got, you got to try to adjust to it. And hope that you can get your guys prepared to play against what that team’s doing.”
On what makes Alabama’s Mark Sears one of the best guards in the league
“He’s had great success. He should be a confident player. You got to give a lot of credit to him and to Nate and his staff. They put him in a great position and he knows that system, what they want from him. But he’s been in a lot of high-level games and he, pretty much, I think he does what Nate wants him to do. I think a couple weeks back he wasn’t playing well, he didn’t play the whole half of the game, but it speaks volumes to he and his program in terms of what the standard they set and the fact that he has come back, and I think he’s been terrific. But he’s been as consistent as any part in the country in his time in the league.”
On the challenge of keeping Tennessee players on edge every game with postseason seeding on the line
“Well, everybody this time of year obviously is talking about that. But we wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t done the work you need to do early in the year. So the same focus that you talk about back then, you talk about the importance of those games. After those games, you scrub them out and then you talk about how you got to continue to get better. It doesn’t change. We’ve all got a system and the way we do things, but the fact that we’re in this position, it’s still about the process that we believe in, what we go through and being focused on today. Yesterday’s practice was important to us. Today will be equally as important, if not more. Then we’ve got to be in the mindset to go out and know that we’re going to have to compete at a high level against an outstanding team that has had great success for a long time. And a team that, they’re going to be very disciplined to their system. They’re going to do what they do. And if you’re not on edge, you saw what happened the other night, (they made 22) threes. So you know what they’re capable of.”
On what it means for Dick Vitale to be calling the game
“You know what, I was talking to Dick yesterday and he’s just so authentic and during our conversation he talked about the last three years and obviously being with him at his gala the last couple years. But he talked a lot about how tough it’s been and when you have had to fight the different cancers he’s had to fight, but yet his deep passion and love for wanting to do this. And I don’t think it’s as easy as people might think. He wants to do it because one, I think he has a love for the game. I think that he still has a great passion to be out amongst people. And I know he has a tremendous drive to continue to build the V Foundation through to help with pediatric cancer. But I know he’s grateful. I know he feels he’s been extremely blessed and we obviously talk about our faith with each other, but he knows there’s been a lot of people that have prayed for him through the years but he got emotional yesterday on the phone and I love him to death like everybody because his passion, his transparency is real. But he doesn’t want to stop, which I admire that.”
On Igor Milicic slumping a bit the last few games
“No, I think he’s just got to, again, slow down, settle down, understand again exactly what we need him to do and if he’ll do that, he’s going to be fine. And right now is as good a time as any need to start getting consistent and doing what we know he is capable of. I mean, you go back to when he was rebounding the ball at a high level, that’s when he was playing his best basketball and when he was really locked in defensively. And I think if he gets back to that mindset again offensively, by now we all need to know our roles and what we need to do. And he does that and it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
On how much his convo with Vitale was about the game or about life in general
“Well, I mean it’s both. I mean, we talked about both because we’ve known each other for a long, long time. You know, when I was at Providence College, he came up and did our Midnight Madness and we did the Dick Vitale Soundalike, which our student body there at the time got really into it. And he was there for our, again, our Midnight Madness. And through the years, and again, being part of his, the gala that he puts on in Florida is— you can’t go there and not come away with a different mindset. You can’t, and it’s just overwhelming and emotional in terms of being there and seeing, especially when the kids come up and it’s just an incredible event.
“But he loves basketball. I mean, he would tell you that God has blessed us both with being a part of this game and the fact that he’s influenced so many campuses when he was, I mean I’m sure our student body will be excited that he’s gonna be in the building. It’s always been that way and that won’t change. And the fact that he’s still is putting the effort into doing it. And like I said, I’m sure it’s not, I know he still has to rest his voice. I know they’ve told him, you can’t do as much, get to the game, go to shoot rounds and all that because if he could, he wouldn’t change. But I was talking with Jimmy Dykes yesterday and we’re talking about how hard he worked to get when he, I mean he was a guy that always prepared for games. I mean, he just didn’t walk in and he’d call you a week out and want to talk about the team. Wanted to make sure he was in line with our team and all that. He really worked hard at it and that’s what, that was what the call was about yesterday to start with. I mean, he called wanting to know, you know, tell me more about your team. And he said, I’ve been following you, I’ve been watching you, but just tell me a little bit more. And that’s just a great tribute to him and the fact that he is still willing to work at it the way way he does.”
On wanting Chaz Lanier to take even more shots, Lanier embracing film sessions
“Well, he does. I mean, we’ve had a couple, we’ve had some guys under the weather and he’s been one of them, but he needs to. We need him to, he needs to and so we’ll see.”
On Felix Okpara not playing basketball until he was a bit older
“Yeah, it is. I mean, I remember seeing Felix in high school and we wanted him, we recruited him. But as much as I’ve seen him improve there, I think his improvement this year has been really remarkable. I mean, I see what he’s doing and I’m excited because I think he’s just getting started and he is learning so much from our scheme of things. You know, he had played in a certain system at Ohio State, obviously it’s a different system in high school. And sometimes, when you talk about ball screen coverage and you learn the different ways that we want to do it compared to what he did at other places, it’s different. But his willingness to learn and work has been really impressive. And again, I think he’s just getting started.”
