Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the media on Tuesday afternoon following a successful first week of the season and ahead of the Vols’ matchup against Montana on Wednesday night.
The Vols started the season 2-0 with a victory over Gardner-Webb at home and a blowout road victory over Louisville in their first true test of the regular season.
Barnes discussed the turnover problems in the first two games of the season, the strong individual performances from multiple guys against Louisville and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said on Tuesday.
More From RTI: Kim Caldwell, Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball Lands Five-Star Commit
On if he feels Tennessee improved from Game 1 to Game 2
“We did. And you look you look for that, obviously. But the effort was terrific. Still some things that we know we’ve got to continue to really improve on, but really had good focus from everyone. And got to certainly take care of the ball better, there’s no question about that. But overall, the effort in a game like that, against the team that was playing a high-tempo game with us. But we’ve got to continue to improve.”
On if Tennessee center Felix Okpara took another step forward in the second half at Louisville
“He did. I thought what he did was terrific. Again, the way he really had a presence inside there. And just watching him, from the time that he got here to where he is today, we just think that he is just getting started with how good a player he can be.”
On what the issues were for Zakai Zeigler with his nine turnovers in the first half against Louisville
“Well, a lot of it was, again, he’s so competitive. And he’s being pressured, he’s being guarded. Again, I’m not sure unless you really, really study the game, you realize just how much he impacts the game defensively. He’s so disruptive playing 94 feet. Then oftentimes, the ball ends up late in the clock with his man, where he’s going to be in ball screens. He’s getting tagged a lot a lot, physically. Then on the offensive end, he wants to play the tempo we want him to play. And they were doing some things just really chasing him down. And he would tell you that number of his, he wasn’t happy with it. But he’ll settle in like he always does. But anything and everything he did, we talked about it yesterday, he can fix it. And he will.”
On how Felix Okpara’s hip pointer is progressing
“He seems better. He does. He seems better, but you’ll never know it watching him because he’s one of those guys that he’s going to put his work in and play regardless.”
On how Jordan Gainey has been able to run Tennessee’s offense when Zakai Zeigler is out of the game
“He can. And I think that Bishop (Boswell) continues to develop and do what we know he’s capable of. And we need Chaz (Lanier) to do a little bit of it. Jahmai has done it before. And that would help ‘Z’ too, if we could take a little bit of pressure off him. That way, when teams are going at 94 feet too, where they handle the ball a little bit, and they all know the offense well enough that they could get it started just as easy as he can.”
On if Tennessee’s rebounding difference from Game 1 to Game 2 came down to effort or something else
“Sometimes. I think detail. I mean, effort is always a big part of rebounding. But knowing that (Louisville) in their two games we had watched with our guys, they had made a heavy emphasis on getting to the offensive boards, and we knew we were going to have to do that. Plus a game that we thought that they would could shoot 40 threes, which I think they shot 39. A lot of balls come off crazy angles, crazy directions. And knowing that you just couldn’t run-in there. You going to have to try to make a little bit of contact. And they worked hard at it. Louisville really made, still made, the effort to get there, but our guys really locked in on that part of it and and gave us a good day.”
On if Tennessee sophomore wing Cam Carr is pressing
“He’s like any young player, he wants to play. I do think in the last couple weeks he’s had a real breakthrough, where he’s starting to really understand the game and understand it’s a hard game to play. His practice concentration has been really good in the last two weeks. And then on offense, he was he was anxious against Louisville. First play, you know, we actually ran a play for him and he didn’t get it done.
“And afterwards, we talked about it and he said he was shocked watching the film, how slow behind he was on it. But that’s natural. The more he’s out there — and we’re going to keep getting him out there, because we need every one of these guys — but it’s natural. But as a staff, if he continues, especially defensively, doing the things that he’s been doing the last week and a half, it’s going to work out well for him.”
On the step Igor Milicic Jr took from game one to game two
“Slowed down and he still needs to slow down a little bit. That’s important that he’ll do that. But defensively, he got in foul trouble. He obviously is going to play more minutes than he played the other day. I thought he really did a great job concentrating on the things we asked him to concentrate on on the defensive end. Then on the offensive end, when he just lets the game come to him he’s naturally got excellent instincts. It’s when he starts pressing, think he’s got to make something happen. He just has to let the game come to him and he’ll make the right play.”
On what stands out about Montana
“One, they’re playing a high level schedule. They’ve been to Oregon, obviously coming here and well coached. A team that,I think they’re very solid in their approach, what they’re trying to do, how they want to play. You can expect again, I’ve got great respect for Montana basketball because I’ve been around long enough to know the history of that program. And I was told the other day, it’s the first time in my career I’m coaching against a Big Sky team. I never thought of it that way.”
Reporter: joke about it must be a new conference
“No. I mean, it’s been around a long time. Not to not to cross paths with them somewhere is really kind of ironic, but I know about their basketball. Their love for basketball there. Their tradition about it. And so we want to be ready to play obviously because we know now— all you gotta do is look around scores going on in college, but it happens every year. The games changed where everybody can play, and we’re gonna have to be ready to play tomorrow.”
On if it’s a luxury to have two young post players in modern college basketball
“Well, we hope to be able to do that. I’ve said before, I think it’s important when you get guys like that— going into this year, we felt, we talked about our our portal guys, we know that’s important, but we’ve always said the improvement in our program and what we meant by that more than anything would be how much JP, Cam and Cade would improve and I think they all have they really have. And we expect even more improvement, however, the next three months from them. Because they have to realize that, it’s close to where when you lose guys like Jahmai and even Jordan and a guy like Zakai Zeigler who’s been around for a long time. Those are the transition guys that you want them to carry on what we’ve been able to build through the years. And so these next couple of months are really important to those guys. It really is because we need them out there, but they know that they’re going to have to earn the right to get out there. They owe it to their teammates to do that, and we expect them to do it.”
On where he would like to see the team improve this week against Montana and Austin Peay before heading to the Bahamas next week
“Every (where). There’s not (one) — number one, obviously, we’ve gotta do a better job of taking care of the basketball. Too many turnovers and too many unforced turnovers. That’s a big area. We’re gonna play different teams, like, even before we get there, you talk about the game tomorrow (Montana), then the one on Sunday (Austin Peay), every one of ‘em is gonna be a challenge in a different way. You’ve got to be able to make those adjustments there (Bahamas). You’ve got a quick turnaround from game to game, so we’re gonna have to continue to build on everything, but we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”
On how important Chaz Lanier’s offensive efficiency is to the team each game
“Well, he’s capable. He’s done well. You really think about it other than the Indiana game, he’s been pretty consistent with what he’s doing. It’s not just his offense. We wanna see him grow defensively. We think that’s important for him. We think that’s gonna help him as he moves forward. Trying to show him all the different ways he’s gonna have to score other than just when the ball’s in his hands. He’s gonna have to learn to play a little bit quicker, more efficient without it, understanding how to attack space on the floor. But we’re not just counting on one guy to score points. I mean, obviously, we know he has the ability to do that, but we feel this team’s gonna be a team that’s gonna have balance, and we need that.”
On how beneficial it is to have sophomore forward Cade Phillips come off the bench
“Well, you know, Cade’s athletic. He’s strong. He’s competitive, and he’s a guy, I think, with every minute he gets out there, he’s gonna get better and better. He’s starting to understand more and more what we need for him right now. And as I’ve said many times, roles will change throughout the year. Players make you do things differently. He’s one of those guys that we hope that once he learns where and how he can score, he’s gonna be even more effective there.”
