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What Darlinstone Dubar has to do to get more minutes for Tennessee

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey02/20/25GrantRamey
Rick Barnes, Tennessee Basketball | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images
(Randy Sartin-Imagn Images) Dec 17, 2024; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes speaks with guard Darlinstone Dubar (8) during the second half against the Western Carolina Catamounts at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.

Darlinstone Dubar doesn’t have to prove his worth by making shots as soon as he checks into a game. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said as much last week. 

“I think the biggest message to him,” Barnes said, “is that he doesn’t have to make a 3-point shot to stay in the game. That’s the message.”

Dubar, the Hofstra transfer, is averaging just 10.5 minutes per game off the bench this season for No. 6 Tennessee (21-5, 8-5 SEC), which goes to No. 7 Texas A&M (20-6, 9-4) on Saturday (Noon Eastern Time, ESPN).

Darlinstone Dubar this season: 3.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, 10.5 minutes per game

He played six minutes in the 81-75 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday, scoring three points and coming up with a steal. He had played four scoreless minutes in the loss at Kentucky last week and 11 at Oklahoma on February 8, when he scored five points, going 2-for-2 from the field and 1-for-1 from the 3-point line. 

Dubar proved at Hofstra last season that he can score, averaging 17.8 points per game while shooting 39.9% from the 3-point line, making 73 of 183 attempts in 33 games.

But he doesn’t have to show it to stay on the floor with the Vols. 

“He’s got so many other things he can do,” Barnes said, “but he’s a player that I think can shoot the ball at a high percentage. But if you’re going into the game thinking that’s the only way you’re going impact the game — if it goes in, it goes in. If it don’t, it don’t. We can’t be thinking, okay, is he going to try another one or whatever.

“We just want him to play and play within the flow of the team, what we’re trying to do.” 

Dubar scored 12 points to lead Tennessee to win at Texas

Dubar scored a season-high 13 points against Western Carolina in December but was at his best in the second half of the win at Texas on January 11. In 17 minutes he scored 12 points, going 3-for-5 from the 3-point line, while adding a season-high six rebounds. 

He had seven points, four rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist in 17 minutes against Kentucky on January 28 and had three assists, to go with four points, in a season-high 25 minutes against Florida on February 1, when Tennessee was missing Zakai Zeigler and Igor Milicic Jr. 

If the shots are there, Tennessee’s coaching staff wants Dubar to take them. But it’s far from the only part of Dubar’s game.

“When he’s open with the shots that we talk about,” Barnes said, “we want him to take them and we think he’ll make a high percentage of it.”

When players think making shots is the only way to impact the game, that’s when the pressure mounts. And when things can go sideways. 

“When guys go in the game thinking that their number one thing is I’ve got to make a shot to stay in the game,” Barnes said, “I promise you, it never works.”

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