Rick Barnes won’t blame officials as foul disparity looms large in Tennessee’s loss to Purdue

Rick Barnes took the high road after Tennessee’s tough loss to Purdue that ended the Volunteers’ NCAA Tournament run in the Elite 8.

On Sunday, it was Tennessee’s turn to experience the challenge of defending Zach Edey. The 7-4, 300-pound Purdue big man is difficult to defend with his size and style of play.

Edey got favorable whistles in the Elite 8 game, leading to 22 free-throw attempts. In a 6-point game, the free throw disparity was 33 attempts for Purdue, just 11 for Tennessee.

Those who watched the game had a lot to say about Edey and fouls.

If officials haven’t come up with a way to referee Zach Edey, that’s on them.

They’ve only had a few years. That conversation has gotten old, quick.

— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) March 31, 2024

Zach Edey is bad for college basketball. It’s not his fault. I don’t blame him, the human.

But his coach, the officials, and even announcers have really cooked up a horrible product.

— Austin Stanley (@AustinStanley81) March 31, 2024

Maybe officials would stop calling all these fouls against anyone guarding Zach Edey on seemingly every play if everyone would stop fouling him on seemingly every play

— Pete Fiutak (@PeteFiutak) March 31, 2024

Shoutout to Zach Edey. It takes a generational player to be the most physical player in the sport, draw 15 fouls, and only get called for 1 (and no travels, moving screens, or 3-second violations).

Masterclass performance.

— Jake (@JakeAndBall) March 31, 2024

Tennessee basketball deserved better than this.

Make sure and pass the officials a pair of scissors when Zach Edey cuts down the nets.

— Victoria Kline (@VictoriaDKline) March 31, 2024

Barnes, however, declined to call out the officials, at least before watching the game film.

“I’m not blaming anything on the officials, I’m not,” Barnes said answering the final question in his postgame press conference. “I don’t want you to think or anybody to think that because I wouldn’t ever do that until I’ve watched the tape myself and saw what I wanted to see.”

Earlier in the press conference, Barnes was asked about the strategy for defending Edey. The coach of the Vols, a team that plays physical defense night in, night out, knew about the challenge of officiating how Edey is defended.

“You’ve got a very unique player in Zach Edey, very unique. It’s a hard game to officiate,” Barnes acknowledged.

The long-time UT coach was ready to dive into what makes Edey so unique to defend.

“Space on the court is so important, and depending on how a guy gets there and you try to keep him from getting there and the effort that goes into that often times can get one guy in particular there out of position to where he can maybe help on some other different things.,” Barnes assessed.

“He’s an extremely physical player, does a great job wedging with his body. I thought all along his misses are the hardest thing to defend because he does lead strong. He’ll bounce you off and try to create a crack and step through it. That’s where he’s improved so much with his footwork.”

Edey’s size and physicality stand out immediately when watching the Boilermakers.

“I think it’s hard for officials because there’s not many guys like that,” Barnes continued on the officiating of defending Edey. “The game has changed so much through the years. Whether you stay in the lane three seconds or you don’t, if you don’t ever get out, it really distorts everything. I’m not saying he did or he didn’t, but watching tape, he’s a difficult guy to officiate, I can tell you that.

“He’s an extremely difficult guy to guard because, again, knowing where he wants the ball. And he’s got a group of guys around it that know how to get it to him at the right time. As much as you try to scheme to get guys down there to try to take some space away, all you can do is go down and dig at it and try to help — hope you can come up with some deflections.”

For many Vols fans, it will be hard not to move on from “what if” the officials had called a 6-point game differently.

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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.