What Rick Barnes said about Tennessee’s win over Mississippi State, facing Kentucky a 3rd time

After a double bye, Tennessee won its first SEC Tournament game Friday night in Nashville, defeating Mississippi State 83-76.

Coach Rick Barnes was pleased with the win, which advances to the Volunteers to the semifinals.

“No doubt we knew it was going to be a really hard-fought game, which it was,” Barnes said after the game. “I thought as a team, we really did a lot of great things out there. Lamonte Turner was terrific. You look at the stat sheet, might not show up. We were just in the locker room, felt what he did was really the difference in the game.”

The Vols head coach took questions from reporters, including what it will be like facing Kentucky for a third time in 2019 as well as what can be expected from the Bulldogs in the Big Dance:

Q. Tell me about Kyle Alexander, offensively and defensively.
RICK BARNES: I thought he was terrific. When you think about it, he got back to really the last couple games being aggressive, starting to really assert himself more. We’re going to need that from him from here on out, certainly tomorrow. We needed it tonight.

He did a lot of good things. Got his hands on a lot of balls. The ones he didn’t get, he actually was able to break it loose a couple times where our guards were able to come in and clean it up.

Kyle played really well.

Q. You referenced the film session. Is that a reflection of the maturity on your team, that they can take some hard coaching, incorporate it into how they play instead of hanging their heads?
RICK BARNES: Well, it was hard. But it was real. I think, again, their maturity is there. One, I do know they want to be a good basketball team. It’s hard to watch when you’re not playing well.

We talked about obviously you have to know what goes into winning, but losing, too. We know what that is. You go back and look at our stat sheet in our four losses, we got away from who we really are as a team.

Yeah, I think their maturity, they came out, it’s been a long week, and the fact waiting for this game. We actually had a long session after that, but we had a long one last night, too, looking at some things that they had to take a good, hard look at.

I thought today they were locked in. We knew it would be a hard one, and it was.

Q. You played Mississippi State twice in the last week and a half. They’re getting set to play in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 10 years. What about their team can they do to potentially make a run?
RICK BARNES: There’s no doubt they can make a run. Won’t be a little run. Again, I’ve got so much respect for Ben Howland, what he’s done, the way they play basketball. They’re not going to beat themselves. They got the ability. Their guards can hurt you. Their inside guys. Their length is a problem, will be a problem. They’re going to be a tough matchup for anybody.

This league, I’ve said it before, I think it’s as good as any league in the country. Any team that comes out of our league has a chance to make a deep run into the NCAA tournament, and they’re one of them.

Q. You get a chance now for the third game in the semifinals against Kentucky. How big of an advantage is it for the winner of tomorrow’s game to make one last case for No. 1 seed with the Selection Committee?
RICK BARNES: I just think our league, we should be in consideration for it. You go back, I think Kentucky has been a team that hasn’t got its recognition that it should have. Before we played up there, you think about it, other than that one tough loss they had at Duke at the beginning of the year, they’ve been good all year long. Again, I just know this league deserves a No. 1 seed is what I believe. There’s no doubt. Again, you look at them, what John has done, they’ve continued to get better. I think somebody told me Reid came back. That will certainly help them.

We know it’s going to be a tough game. They know it is. I think right now both teams want to try to win this conference championship is what I think is really on both people’s minds. Obviously I wish we were in the championship game right now because it’s going to be a quick turnaround for us and them tomorrow. We just got to go play.

But I’ll be disappointed if somebody in our league really and truly doesn’t end up on that 1 line.

Q. A lot has been made about having you play in this late time slot. John Calipari said he was going to watch a movie and spend time with family. What realistically can you do in preparation in this short amount of time?
RICK BARNES: Well, not a lot really. I was upset they took some players and put them on the SEC set. We got to get out of here. It’s late. We got to get them back, get their bodies taken care of, feed them, get going. It’s hard. Again, we’ll be back here in, what, about 13 hours. What time is the game? 2, so it’s a quick turnaround.

But this time of year, our guys have seen enough. We know each other. They know us as well as we know ourselves, I think vice versa. It’s just going to be a quick turnaround that we have to deal with.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.