What Rick Barnes, Tennessee Players Said About Officiating In Elite Eight Loss

As has been the case all season, the way Purdue star center Zach Edey was officiated was a major conversation point in the Boilermakers 72-66 win over Tennessee in the Elite Eight on Sunday afternoon.

Edey shot 22 free throws himself, double Tennessee’s team total, while recording just one foul himself in the win. The Boilermakers made 21-of-33 free throw attempts in the victory which proved important in the six-point win.

Tennessee’s front court of Jonas Aidoo, Tobe Awaka and JP Estrella totaled 38 minutes of action and 11 fouls including Awaka fouling out in just 13 minutes of action.

Following its season ending loss, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and juniors Tobe Awaka and Jahmai Mashack commented on the officiating. Here’s what they said.

More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways On Tennessee Basketball’s Loss Against Purdue

Rick Barnes

On the challenges defending Zach Edey the way the game was officiated

“One, you’ve got a very unique player in Zach Edey, very unique. It’s a hard game to officiate.

Space on the court is so important, and depending on how a guy gets there and you try to keep him from getting there and the effort that goes into that oftentimes can get one guy in particular there out of position to where he can maybe help on some other different things.

He’s an extremely physical player, does a great job wedging with his body. I thought all along his misses are the hardest thing to defend because he does lead strong. He’ll bounce you off and try to create a crack and step through it. That’s where he’s improved so much with his footwork.

I think it’s hard for officials because there’s not many guys like that. The game has changed so much through the years. Whether you stay in the lane three seconds or you don’t, if you don’t ever get out, it really distorts everything. I’m not saying he did or he didn’t, but watching tape, he’s a difficult guy to officiate, I can tell you that.

He’s an extremely difficult guy to guard because, again, knowing where he wants the ball. And he’s got a group of guys around it that know how to get it to him at the right time. As much as you try to scheme to get guys down there to try to take some space away, all you can do is go down and dig at it and try to help — hope you can come up with some deflections.

We fouled — I haven’t even really looked at the stats. It’s hard. I can tell you, he’s a difficult guy to guard against, but he’s a difficult guy for referees to officiate too. I don’t care what anybody says. He’s a hard guy to do that with because he’s a unique guy in terms of how he plays.”

On losing by Purdue twice this year by a combined 10 points while Purdue shoots 41 more free throws

“It’s hard. I can go back, and we can all have what we feel about it. I’ve been doing this a long time. I was talking earlier about it. There’s different ways you can foul in this game. There’s different ways you can get fouled.

I’ve always felt that through the years — we lost an NCAA game years ago where we were playing against a team where every touch foul on the perimeter was being called but the physicality inside wasn’t. My question during that game was are we going to call it different inside-outside?

It’s kind of changed a little bit and kind of gone the other way. Some of the contact allowed on the perimeter is more so than it used to be, and the inside pretty much — it’s physical. It is. Somebody said it the other day, and it’s true. Our game is more physical than the NBA. It’s not even close with the physicality that’s in our game today.

I don’t have a problem with it. People would always say that we’re real physical, but there’s a fine line there that goes with it. But when you look at it and see — I said it before coming in that I thought the game there was officiated different, and it was there. Some of the perimeter touch fouls in Maui weren’t called today, and I don’t think they should have been. I don’t think they should have been called in Maui.

But there’s a difference in officiating from the start of the year to the end of the year. We know it. Everybody knows it. I was on the rules committee for five years. We talked about it.

Again, both teams played their hearts out. Again, I’m not complaining about the officials because you just asked me a question, and I think it’s a very hard game to officiate. Sometimes it’s hard for players to adjust to exactly what’s going on because it’s a tough game to officiate, especially when you have a unique player like Zach. A guy like Dalton on the perimeter, he was getting pushed around a little bit too.

That’s where, again, I think it’s — officials, believe me, it’s a hard game to officiate. As much time as I spent on the rules committee and know how hard they work at wanting to get the game right. Again, they would all say this time of year they want players to decide the game, which they should, but there’s certain rules that always have to be administered whether or not we like it or not.”

On how proud he was of the fight of Tennessee’s big men

“I really am proud of it. Again, I’m not blaming anything on the officials, I’m not. I don’t want you to think or anybody to think that because I wouldn’t ever do that until I’ve watched the tape myself and saw what I wanted to see.

I’m proud because we knew, we had already played them, and we knew what to expect. I was a little surprised at the start of the game that they didn’t run. Down out in Hawaii, it was an up-and-down game, and I think they felt like Matt wanted to go through him all day.

You look at his three-point shots, we were obviously aware of the supporting cast, they made a big one when they needed to. There was a big three they made in the last couple of minutes. Once the game settled in, we knew. It was very simple. They were going to come down and pound it in there.

I knew our guys would fight. I think Jonas fought as hard as he could. I really do. I think that Tobe fought his heart out and JP, even Jahmai Mashack, when he was down there that one time. Like I said, he’s a unique guy.

I really am proud of the effort. We still had a chance all throughout. The big play was the block too. Edey made a great block. If we had gotten two there, it would have been a one-possession game. That was a great play. You’ve got to give him credit. He stayed with it. Again, I wouldn’t trade our guys for anybody.”

Tobe Awaka

On what went wrong with fouls and dealing with Zach Edey

“He’s a really imposing force. You use all the effort you have to try and block him out, to try and make all his catches in the post hard, the refs blow the whistle. It is what it is. Credit to Purdue for recognizing it and utilizing it to the best of their ability. It’s just tough, knowing how hard all of us fought to try and win this game and the time and effort we spent in the film room, practice, walk through. Just sucks that all that work couldn’t come to fruition.”

On if it’s possible to match Edey’s physicality without fouling

“I would say it’s tough. You’re giving all you’ve got, using all your strength against him and the whistle blows. Some of them you just kind of throw your arms up in the air and say ‘what more else could I do?’ But, again, credit to Purdue and their talented roster for guards looking inside all the time. Making it an effective force.”

Jahmai Mashack

On what he saw with the big men battling Zach Edey

“He’s a big guy so you do what you can. You try not to foul. We were trying not to foul. I guess we were still fouling. You just have to live with the calls. The refs are in a tough situation. We just have to limit them and come back down and try to do something on offense but, yeah, it’s tough. Our bigs definitely did everything they could to try and stop him from picking up fouls and getting to his spots.”

On what went wrong the final minutes of the first half

“Fouls. It was just fouls. Picking up fouls. They were getting a lot of fouls and getting to the free throw line. They were able to knock in a couple threes but it wasn’t even the three-balls it was the fouls. We were fouling a lot.”