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Rick Barnes tries to explain loss at Ole Miss: ‘We just gave it to ’em’
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The Tennessee Volunteers have been frustratingly inconsistent during SEC play. At times, they look like a Final Four team. At others, they look like one of the worst teams in the SEC.
On Tuesday night, the Vols went down to Oxford and suffered an ugly 52-50 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels.
After the game, coach Rick Barnes was at a loss for words. During his postgame press conference, here’s what he said about the unexpected loss:
#Vols coach Rick Barnes: Disappointing. Really disappointing. We just didn’t get good guard play tonight. It’s disappointing. We’re just not consistent. We’re not.
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) February 3, 2021
On the Vols’ 16 turnovers:
#Vols coach Rick Barnes: Some of these turnovers, honestly it’s just laziness. It baffles me to think about some of the ways we turned the ball over tonight.
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) February 3, 2021
#Vols coach Rick Barnes: We just gave it to ‘em. And we kept giving it to ‘em.
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) February 3, 2021
On Ole Miss changing its defensive looks throughout the game:
#Vols coach Rick Barnes: We knew they were gonna change defenses. We knew that. We prepared for it. We just didn’t attack them. And we had so many careless turnovers.
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) February 3, 2021
On how everyone on the team struggled:
#Vols coach Rick Barnes: It’s frustrating. So frustrating. I’m not sure anyone had a good game. Maybe Yves, at times.
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) February 3, 2021
On John Fulkerson’s 8-point, 4-rebound effort:
Rick Barnes: John has played enough by now that he should be consistent.
On Fulkerson’s 5 FG attempts tonight
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) February 3, 2021
The Vols are now 12-4 overall and 5-4 in SEC play. They’ll travel to Kentucky on Saturday in a game that suddenly looks a bit more difficult than it did entering Tuesday night’s action.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.