Head Coach Rick Barnes Transcript

On staying focused…
“I think again, you have to be careful with it. The weather changes outside and they have their life outside of what we do here. There are lot of different things that can come into play here, but you’d also like to think this is a time they get excited, knowing that they’ve worked hard to give themselves a chance to be in in a good position to have a terrific year. You know we’ve obviously had a good year, but there’s a lot more basketball out there to be had. If we’re willing to stay focused like what you’re talking about, keep doing what we’ve been doing, and understand that we still do have to get better. As we know the season is already over for some teams and some teams, very few, but some will be playing another month from now. If you want to be in that group, it’s of utmost importance that you stay focused and realize you have to want to finish it.”

On the season’s peak…
“I don’t know if I could say we are peaking, I hope we can get a lot better. I do know this. We have to get better we’re going to have to be better with some of the things I mentioned to you all couple weeks ago. We still have not got it where we want everything and but it’s the effort there. We’ve got to make sure that we give our team the best chance by being fresh mentally, fresh physically, and, as we know, every team in the country, I think, is working through some kind of little nicks. That is something you’ve got a try to manage that as well, but I don’t know about thinking in terms of peaking. I know you guys get tired of me saying it, but I just keep thinking about how can we get better today.”

On Arkansas’s recent performances on the road…
“Well, I think again it’s hard to win road games anywhere, when what you just mentioned is very impressive, and it’s hard. I don’t care where you go in, any coach and in the league any coach in the United States would tell you that it’s hard to win on the road. You never know what it’s going to be like, but you know you’re going to have to play good basketball in. Certainly, Arkansas has done that you know we we’ve been able to do it. You go back and look the teams that are normally the top teams in a league normally do have good records at home, but if you want to win championships and be at the top, not only do you have to be good at home you’ve got to be good on the road. Certainly winning five out of six and doing what they’re doing is really impressive.”

On the atmosphere at Thompson-Boling Arena…
“Well, we tell our guys all the time we can’t take being a home for granted. We think we have the best home court situation in the country, and I’m sure Arkansas fans feel that way, Kentucky fans feel that way, Auburn fans feel that way, and probably I can keep naming teams that feel that way. You can’t, we talk as much about what we do on the road, at home, or on the road, and we know we have to play good basketball, plain and simple. Our fans, have they helped us this year? Absolutely, I don’t think there’s any question that home fans help home teams if the home team is playing good basketball. Home fans can’t help you if you’re not doing what you need to do to win a basketball game. They can’t as much as they want to. You still have to do your part because in most situations the home team they’re going to have fans behind them and trying to help them everywhere they can. Our fans have sort of helped us there’s no question about it.”

On the money raised for Zakai Zeigler…
“I think that we talk about the spirit and what our fans bring to our games, whether it’s basketball, football, baseball, women’s softball, women’s basketball, whatever it may be, we talk about Vol Nation being what it is, but I think what they did just shows you it runs a lot deeper than that. I think it shows you that they have we are here in a part of the country East Tennessee, but just not East Tennessee, the state of Tennessee and people nationally. I think they saw what happened to him and certainly said they want to step up and do our part. I think it speaks volumes to anybody that contributed to helping. him. I got a wonderful text from Jerry Stackhouse right away, saying, ‘Hey, whatever I need to do whatever we need to do from here, we’ll be willing to do it.’ But before anything could happen, it was already moving in a way that I’m not sure any of us knew what would happen. It was just overwhelming. I think he would tell you it’s overwhelmed he and his family, in the kind of support that they’ve received from everyone.”

On if avoiding charges during the game takes away from you team’s aggressiveness…
“Well, of course you know it does. I mean, yeah, we talked about it going into the game that you know they have a player that is going to play more of us hanging around the basket and that’s what (Jaylin Williams) does. He impacts the game that way, but you know it’s like anything that’s one part of a team that you gameplan for. You do it whether you have a shot block or whatever you do. When you look at the other team, you’re looking at not just one player, but all of their players. Arkansas is a really good defensive team, really good. They work really hard on the ball, they work hard at waving ball, and they’ve got a guy that they’ve chosen to, and I think that’s probably earlier in the year, when they got off to a 0-3 start, they were in a little more aggressive there, but now they’re going to really drop coverage back in the air. This really helped them and it’s what they do, and they do it well.”

On if he has been pleased with Tennessee’s play since the loss at Arkansas…
“Yeah, I mean you know we’re going to drive the ball and we’re not going to stop driving the ball. That’s always a hot topic in in college basketball about the charge, you know, and I said it after that game, it is an extremely difficult play to make. I mean it always does in terms of what’s best for the game, and when it’s a part of the game and it’s part of the rulebook, you’ve got to learn to play within the rules, and then you’ve got to be able to still be aggressive. Coming over making plays like that which again, they’re legal plays as long as you get yourself set up and do it. It is one of the hardest calls that officials must make.”

On talking to your players about “scoreboard watching” and keeping focus…
“Well, I think our players know what’s going on in college basketball, I do. I think they do know what goes on in our league. I think our guys love this league. I think they love playing in this league. This league has improved so much, and there’s so many teams in our league that I think again, I want us to be a league with seven, eight, nine teams in the tournament and to your question, they’re aware of what’s going on. They are, they know what’s going on within the league.”

On what John Fulkerson has meant to Tennessee’s program…
“Well, we have talked about John a lot. If you think about it, I’ve been here, this is the end of my seventh year and this is the end of his sixth year. He was one of our primary guys when we got here that we focused on and wanted to be a part of our program. We know that he’s had his ups and downs with injuries. It’ll be different with John not being here. I mean I’m glad he came back, and gets to have a real Senior Night. Last year with the COVID year it wasn’t what it should be and I do think our fans really want to show him their appreciation for all that he’s put into our program.”

On John Fulkerson playing the 4…
“Well, honestly, he still does pretty much what he’s done here in his whole time. We like him moving obviously without the ball more, we like that, but in terms of his position, he really hasn’t changed his position since he’s been here. You know, our fours and fives really pretty much do the same thing, they’re interchangeable. Defensive matchups might dictate that being a little bit different. But again, we just need John to be aggressive. We need him to take shots as opposed to trying to make it harder than it needs to be. When he’s playing good basketball, you know, obviously you know, that gives us a big lift.”

On rebounding at a much higher rate and how Brandon Huntley-Hatfield has contributed to that…
“Well, Brandon was terrific. I mean his last two games he’s gotten his hands on some basketballs, and the way he’s moving to go get some outside of his area is what I was impressed in, certainly in the Auburn game. It has always been a point of emphasis, you can talk about it all you want, it’s a matter of willpower and guys really understanding that this is what’s got to be done, and I think the best teams will want to do it more consistently than others, and we need to be. We need to be more consistent. We need to get our guards rebound, and we need we need everybody doing it. We need to understand on the defensive end how important it is to play good solid defense, but finish it with a rebound, and on the offensive end, the number that we send to the glass, we need them to go every time.”

On if he likes the mental makeup of his team heading into March…
“I do. Where we are right now, you have one regular season game left and came through a very competitive conference, already one of the top four teams in the tournament. Hopefully there is a lot of basketball left to play, I like to think Santi and Josiah will continue to lead the way they have. I do think these younger guys, when you think about it, we’ve had three true freshmen, sometimes four, but really three out there quite a bit. And they’ve been able to stay with it. I don’t think they’re afraid of the moment, I don’t. I think they’re ready to embrace that. It goes back, I can sit here and tell you with each of the guys, and we talked about it yesterday; we have to get improvement from each and every individual on the team to keep playing the way we want to keep playing. It’s hard, because the same thing we want, a lot of other teams want it. It goes to back to the first question, can we stay focused the way that we need to and that, I hope, can only come from the coaches, which I know they’ll do their part. Will the players do it themselves and make sure they realize that this is what you worked for, now let’s see if we can make the most of it.”

On what worries him when watches the Arkansas film…
“I mean you have a guy that can go for 30 points—he’s done it. I think they’re really balanced. You talk about team that has good chemistry; you know it looks like Eric (Musselman) is really cut his rotation back to what he feels comfortable with where he feels like he’s getting the most productive minutes from guys. They wouldn’t be where they are if they weren’t extremely well-coached. If you’re winning and we coaches know we have talent, but they have some guys that can explode and go get some big buckets, and we know that, and but I think he would tell you that he’s more built his team around on the defensive end, and it shows up in how they play.”

On if he expects another defensive showdown or a different type of game…
“I think both teams will try and play the pace. Both teams like to get out and go. There’s no doubt that both teams want to get out and try to score early because both teams have the respect that they’re going to be defended in the half court and so getting your defense set is really important. Will it be different? I don’t know. I could have never thought in my wildest imagination we’d have our three point guards with four fouls up there and Josiah fouling out, I don’t think anyone could see that kind of grinding game happening even there. To answer your question, I don’t know. I think if both teams are playing really, really well; I expect it to be a higher scoring game.”

On if they should make it the first one to 60 points wins…
“Well, based on that last one, I don’t think anybody would get there. I do think both teams have improved and I think it’s going to get even harder.”

On how he thinks his team has matured based off previous years, specifically players like Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Jonas Aidoo…
“Those two guys in particular, when they came into the situation, it’s just so different. I think they are all kind of caught off guard or surprised how much harder than they envisioned. There is so much more into the details that go into everything you do, not just one particular area, but everything that you do. Do I think they were a little bit overwhelmed coming in? I do once we got going. Also, we did get the summer with most of these guys, last year we didn’t. That was important. Throughout the year, there’s so many ups and downs you deal with, we practiced during the summer and a little bit during the break, and then you start going with calendar you set up. As you have long month practices, just dying to play somebody else and then you get out there and have a scrimmage. The reality of maybe not playing as many minutes as everybody thinks they’re going to play once we get started. But for guys to hang on and continue to work the way those guys did, I think is impressive. I will tell you this, in all honestly, if Olivier hadn’t gotten hurt, even though both of those guys had started to turn the corner, how much would have they played? I don’t know, I don’t. The fact that when Olivier went down, they had both been working to a point to where they were ready to take advantage of that opportunity and have done a good job with it.”

Super-Senior John Fulkerson Quotables

On if he has been scoreboard watching to see the final SEC standing results…
“A little bit. Just in my free time I love watching basketball whether it’s college or the NBA. I think I have basketball on my TV the whole time I’m at home. So yeah, especially SEC and that game the other night could have potential affected us. But now we just have to focus on what we need to focus on.”

On Tennessee’s confidence level playing at home…
“I think a lot of our credit of playing at home goes to our fans. Our fans do a great job coming out and supporting us. They have all year, and we really appreciate Vol Nation. But Arkansas is playing very well right now and we’re going to have to come ready to play.”

On what he tells the younger players about playing in March…
“I think right now, we just need to focus on this game. Once this game is over and we take care of business here, there is a time and place for conversations that might go on about how important that these games are that go on in March.”

On what it has meant to him to play at the University of Tennessee…
“Honestly, I could write a six-page essay on this. But to keep it short, it’s been a dream come true to be a Tennessee Volunteer. I’ve just been so blessed to be here for six years, to meet the people that I have, build the relationships that I have, and play for a coach like coach Barnes and his staff, and my teammates, it’s been incredible.”