Tennessee outlasts LSU to give Rick Barnes 250 wins with Vols
By David Wasson
Published:
Veteran coach Rick Barnes celebrated a milestone victory Saturday, as Tennessee’s 73-63 victory over LSU gave Barnes his 250th victory with the Volunteers.
Barnes, who is in his 39th season as a head coach and in his 11th season in Knoxville, is now 250-116 at Tennessee. Barnes’ career record also improved to 854-430 with the victory, which ranks ninth in Division I history, and he is the active Division I leader in coaching wins. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is the all-time coaching wins leader with 1,202 victories.
Tennessee’s Nate Ament led all scorers with 22 points, which included a 10-of-11 effort from the free-throw line. Ament also pulled down nine rebounds. JP Estrella scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Vols (18-7 overall, 8-4 SEC), and Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 12 points.
Jalen Reece and Marquel Sutton each scored 15 points to lead LSU (14-11, 2-10), and Pablo Tamba added 13 points.
Barnes led Texas to the 2003 Final Four and also coached the Longhorns to a pair of Elite Eight runs during a 17-year run in Austin. Barnes’ Vols have made back-to-back Elite Eight runs and also advanced to two Sweet 16s during his time with Tennessee.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
