Tennessee basketball earned its first win at Bud Walton Arena in 15 years on Wednesday night and it came in dominating fashion as the Vols outpaced the Razorbacks 92-63.
The victory marked the Vols second biggest road victory of this century and came just days after their biggest loss of the season at Texas A&M.
After the win, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes discussed Jonas Aidoo’s big night, the Vols keeping their poise and more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways From Tennessee’s Win Over Arkansas
During postgame press conference
On what it means for to win so convincingly
“One, we had a lot of respect for Arkansas coming in. We knew that they were capable of beating anyone in this building because we have so much respect for their fans in this building here. I thought really after our game the other night our guys did a good job preparing, getting ready to come here. I thought all around we played a really good all around basketball game. Shot the ball well, didn’t make as many threes as we normally take or shoot but just got a really good all around performance from everyone who was in the game.”
On what Arkansas did in the first half that kept Tennessee from running away with the game
“They’re so good at getting fouled and so good at getting into the lane area. They’re so good with their ball screen where they hit the roll and they can spread out of there but we just felt like we had to get them shooting threes as much as we could and try to keep them from getting in the lane, getting us in foul trouble and in rotation. Then on the other end really trying to take care of the ball because they do a great job of turning you over and getting out (in transition). They made shots in the first half. They started making them and last time out against A&M they made them and we got away from our gap defense. Tonight we stayed with it. We showed some discipline there but they obviously didn’t make as many shots in the second half as they did in the first half.”
On why he felt Arkansas didn’t shoot the ball as well in the second half
“The game is a game that, the one thing coaches can’t coach is making shots. We know our guys. We know what we see in practice everyday. Eric’s a terrific coach. He knows his teams. He knows his players better than anybody. There’s some nights where we get great looks and they don’t go in. It’s those nights when you hope you can find other ways to facilitate some offense. And that’s where I thought Jonas was really — Jonas played a heck of a game for us tonight. Tobe did some things in there, but I just think, again, in a game when you get behind and you gotta start making those three’s, or making those plays, it gets more difficult. But, again, we just felt like we had to force them into as many jump shots as we could.”
On what led to Jonas Aidoo playing so well and what the ceiling is for the team when he plays like that
“Well, when he plays like that, when he plays with force to the rim like he did tonight, he played quicker. Because they do a very good job. They will block shots on you and if you mess with it, they will come get it. The guy on the ball can block it. I thought he played much quicker. I think they blocked one of his shots where he did take too much time. They got one of Tobe’s too and we had talked about that coming in here that we wanted those guys to play quicker once we got the ball there. But Jonas, I thought he looked relaxed shooting his little 15-footers. What he did at the rim and his rebounding in the second half was really big. He came up with a lot of plays in there. His length affects things around the rim when he gets himself in position.”
On how big it was that Arkansas didn’t play in any ball-screens tonight
“Well, it was big because we didn’t want them to hit the roll. They do a great job of passing it there and they do a great job of doing that as well as anybody that we’ve played against, and we felt like it was important that we tried to take away the roll man as much as possible and try to keep them on the perimeter and keep them out of the high-percentage areas. Because his (Musselman) teams always have done a great job of exploiting that.”
On Vol Network postgame
Opening Statement
“The real good part about it was that we had a game plan and we stuck to it. I thought that defensively especially, we were pretty consistent throughout the game. We said, hey, we’re not going to jump out there if they make the threes early, which we expect them to be a little jacked up. And we’re going to stick with it. And they hit something early. Second half, I don’t think, maybe (they) hit one or two there at the very end. But just really proud of the mental concentration on the defensive end. And thought Jonas Aidoo was really (good), responded extremely well. But, overall, I mean, everybody. Jordan Gainey came in and gave us a big spark too. But everyone that played had a big contribution.”
On Tennessee’s gap integrity on defense
“We were watching (film) last night, the one thing that we showed the team was how much (Arkansas) counts on hitting that roll man out of that ball screen. I don’t think they got it one time tonight. I don’t think they were able to get it to it. Again, it goes back to what you said, being so effective and disciplined to stay in a gap. And with that, we knew that they would get a little more breathing room from the perimeter, but at least say those threes were on our terms as opposed to the other way. We kept them off the free-throw line, which we thought was important. First half, I think they had six points off of turnovers. And they forced them, we trying to over dribble.
“ … But again, I thought Jonas came up big. I was really pleased with Cade. I thought Cade Phillips came in and he’s gotten back to what we thought he would do. He was active. But overall really good defensive effort by everyone.”
On Jonas Aidoo playing well
“I thought he played to the rim. That was a big thing. He played with some force in there. The last couple days we told him he’s got to play quicker. And I thought he did that. I thought he mixed in a few stationary jump shots that we know he’s capable of making and rebounded. He had a major presence on that (defensive) end down there, too.”
On Barnes saying that Jonas Aidoo can be a player that has a double-double player every game
“He is. He just played with more force. That’s what it was all about. And he’s got continue to do it.”
On Jordan Gainey giving Tennessee a spark off the bench
“Think about it, you go to the bench, get a guy like that coming in and I think him doing that really helped Santi (Vescovi) too, where Santi doesn’t feel like he has to do as much as he’s had to do in the past. I think that’s important but Tobe (Awaka) we got to talk about some of his post ups, they’re really important. But Jordan, what he gives us is again, another guy that people have to game plan against.”
