What Rick Barnes said after Tennessee's exhibition loss to Duke

What Rick Barnes said during his postgame press conference after No. 18 Tennessee’s 83-76 loss to No. 6 Duke Sunday night in an exhibition game at Food City Center:

What he learned about this Tennessee team in this kind of setting

“What I like, we went up against a really good team, one of the best players in the country, and he did it. He was terrific. Cameron Boozer, what can you  say about him?. 24 points, 23 rebounds. I thought our guys, I do think coming into this game, I do like the preparation. I knew it was going to be new for a bunch of them. And I appreciate Jon (Scheyer) and Duke doing this. I think we will both learn tremendously. We’ll learn a lot about this, about ourselves. I thought both teams really competed, physical game this time of year. I think they wanted to come and play against a physical team. And I thought they did a great job of being physical. I thought we were not as physical as we were a year ago. We got to get there. We do need to get there. We’re not there yet. 

“I did not like, I didn’t think we executed. I thought we let our offense dictate what happened on the defensive end. Guys came out and they were making shots, got away, gave up way too many baskets on things that we covered in practice. And give them credit. They are long on the perimeter. They got guys that can pass the ball. Big team, long team. And we didn’t do a good job with ball pressure overall. Do I think we tried to fight and do what we need to do? We did, but we can’t get beat on the glass the way we did, because that’s been a major emphasis in the offseason. 

“And give them credit for that. But then the free throws, I mean, think about it, they were 25-for-27 and we were 10-for-14. And we should have been better than that, but we just settled for some shots that weren’t good shots. And I thought that was being young a little bit, just wanting to hope you make a shot. And then we let the fact that certain guys let the offense get in their head, and we weren’t effective defensively. And everything that can be fixed, but we’ve got to do that. 

“Also, didn’t think we were great coming out the timeout, executing some of the things that we wanted to do. Then we had a couple lineups there that we just want to see what could happen and just try to learn some things about our team, and it was great for us. I think Jon will say the same thing, and they have a terrific team. And I love these games. I think it’s really important we get a chance to do this, but we’ve got a lot to learn from it, and we’ll see if we can do it really.”

What Tennessee got from the front court in the first half vs. the second half

“We’ve got to be better. But again, it’s up to the guards, too. It’s up to the guards. That’s part of their job, to get the ball there. I thought we had a couple chances to do it. Again, Duke’s got some length and they can close down some passing lanes. But I thought we were a little bit sloppy at times. But again, the rebounding, I look at it, Felix (Okpara) I thought really worked hard tonight to do it, but we do have to get Cade (Phillips) and certainly JP going. And JP has been out a year, all this, and working back into it. Cade has been out of practice. I thought DeWayne Brown was really good. I thought he went in and practiced poised, did a lot of good things. And we need Jaylen (Carey) to really, really give us some more than he did. In fact, in 12 minutes he only had one rebound. And he’s got to do that. He’s still got to fight more for his space inside, but we got to get more out of those guys. But it’s not just on them. It’s on our perimeter guys, knowing how to get them involved. Some of these guys, they’ve not played with guys where they tried to put the ball inside, but we’ll get that figured out, too.”

Tennessee freshman Nate Ament being productive (14 points, 10 rebounds) despite not shooting well (5-19 FG, 0-5 3FG)

“Well, that’s what we did at the end. Game was close. We know we need him. We don’t want him to think we’ll lose confidence in him. We’re not. But, the thing he did best, and he could have done probably another seven times, and put fouls on them. I think he could be one of the best in the country at drawing fouls. He needs to get to the free-throw line more than he did. But his first time out. I can assure you, it’s the most physical. The game he’s ever been in his life. And Nate’s learning how to be a perimeter player. And we’re ecstatic about him. I think this will be good for him, because he’s so smart, he’ll look at it, he’ll figure it out himself, and he’ll figure it out. There’s no doubt my mind.

“I think it was great for Ja’Kobi. They really, they put a hit on him. They knew they were going to try to slow him down in transition. And they changed some of their ball screen covers they were putting hits on and trying to get out of his hands. And Ja’Kobi started the game picking up a quick foul, because he’s got to get better defensively where, he did what he does. Sometimes he stops for just a second and is playing catch up, and he’s got the ability to play catch up. But, against good teams, they can make you pay. But again, overall,  we’re gonna learn from it. With Cade, I don’t know why he fouled there at the end, but with that said, it’s really, again, a two, three possession game. That’s what we’re going to be in all year. We’re going to be in games like that all year long. And we just can’t come out, we can’t get beat like we did in second half. I think they went on a 10-1, 10-2 scoring run. That can’t happen. It was all really sloppy, defensive breakdowns, just things that can’t happen.”

What went into starting Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell, playing him 25 minutes

“Defensively, we want that. We felt maybe we could get Mo to come off the bench and give us some offense. I thought Bishop defensively, he’s going to compete at a high level. He’s going to do that. Two guys for them that we knew that we had to had look and we didn’t do a great job with them. I mean, that’s still the two leading scorers, but they’re two good players. But again, what happens right now, when you challenge guys to guard someone, they kind of sort of lose their defensive principles. And we did that tonight. They were wanting to take on the challenge and try to show somebody. I mean, you look at the Boozer, he went seven-for-20 and he got his offensive rebounds. I bet you six of those he went to the foul on probably four or five. I mean, he’s as good as I’ve seen in a long time, up close and personal to do like Edey did, miss a shot. He got a great second, third jump. Put it back. And obviously he’s a good shooter, but they made their free throw. 25 for 27. That’s a real bad stat to look at when they’re making— the goal for any team would be to make more than the other team shoots, which they almost doubled us up there, that’s a problem. But again, the rebounding, they had 16 offensive rebounds, but he had six of them, and there were some big bodies in there flying around, and we have got to be better.”

His assessment of Tennessee guards Amaree Abram and Ethan Burg

“I mean, I thought Ethan went in and he’s learning. I mean, we had too many breakdowns with what we need to do, but we did have some guys out there that were in some spots they hadn’t been before, but we still expected they should know it. I didn’t think we did a great job coming out of the timeout for the most part, getting into what we talked about. That goes back to concentration. I don’t, again, both teams, I thought played hard. Obviously fatigue sets in there a little bit. But mental toughness there when you’ve got to execute. You got to know what we’re doing, and we weren’t great at it a couple times. But I thought, Ethan, yeah, I mean, overall, I think he did a really good job. Mo (Amaree Abram), we need more out of him. He’s got to come in the game with more energy as well, on both ends. I mean, he’s older, been around. We need him to do that. And he will. This group of guys, they want to be good, and we’ll, again, this was 11 new guys out on the team, and some of those guys have never been in a high level game like this. And that’s why you play them. And I wish we played four more of them. It would help us more.”

Where Tennessee’s J.P. Estrella’s game is at as he works back from injury

“We got to get him back. He’s got to get back. But it’s just we need him to be a force that he can be. He can be. But again, our guards have got to understand we’ve got some big guys we got to play with again right now. We could just get those guys to go out there and go all out for two minutes on both ends, and then he had to build it. You got to build it. And but when you miss a year like he did, you would expect him to come back a little bit slower, not slower, but just don’t take him time just to compete, but he’ll work at it. He’ll get better, and we’ll continue to push him to get better.”

What he’d like to see from Tennessee point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie

“Well, he got away from what we need to do because, I mean, and it’s good for him. It’s good for him, because people are going to go after him like that. He didn’t mix it up enough. He kept fighting it himself, where I thought he needed to do some of the adjustments that we gave him to do, to get to it. He didn’t do that, but it was a combination of a couple different things that we were trying. They were downing him which we knew they would do, and he kept fighting it when he didn’t need to do that.

“I thought our wings needed to get up there to help us do some things where we could take advantage of that, didn’t do that. Give Duke credit for stopping us at a point, but we also self-checked ourselves a few times because we didn’t execute and work as hard as we needed to take care of some details, just simple details that have to be taken care of.”

Him saying this Tennessee team isn’t as physical yet as last year’s team, if that was clear to him going into the exhibition

“No, I knew. I mean, I’ve been around it long enough. I can see it in practice. I mean, I know what we got to get to in practice, and I think our guys have worked really hard at being physical with Nate (Ament) this summer, which I think is going to continue to help him. I do think that. But overall, we’ve got to understand there’s a whole different level we got to get to. And we know right now we’re nowhere near where we need to be defensively. We found that out last week. I mean, we gave up 93 points (in the secret scrimmage to Ohio State). Gave up 18 threes last week. I mean, you look at the numbers here. Overall, Duke (shot) 35%. That would cover our goal for the game. 37% (from three), that’s a little bit high, but where we fell short, fouled em’ way too much. Free throws, it’s hard to win games when you get out scored like that on the free throw line. They had some easy layups going down the lane where we had guys — and one thing we always talk about, there’s got to be a confrontation at the rim, where guys were just afraid to leave their man and step over and make him make another pass, because who knows, they can maybe throw the ball out of bounds. But we just did some things that we can’t do. But all of it, all that can be fixed. It can be fixed.”

If it’s sustainable to play Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell 24 minutes with him only taking two shots

“No, they got to play. We think we can put guys out there that can score the ball. But, you know, again, we did some things tonight that we wanted to try and see how it works. And it’ll always be a game of adjustments, a year of adjustments in terms whatever. But we can’t have Nate and Ja’Kobi going, you know, 5-for-21 and 5-for-19, and you got Felix there, didn’t get enough (touches), and he’s 5-for-6. You know, Jaylen (Carey) was 2-for-5 in 11 minutes. And J.P. (Estrella) was 2-for-2. I mean, DeWayne (Brown) was 5-for-5. I mean, some point in time, they got to realize those guys are scoring the ball, and if you put it in there, they’re going to get fouled too. 

“But I thought it will be a great learning experience for Nate and Ja’Kobi, because I thought they both tried to do much more than they needed to. But with Nate, I’m not surprised because it’s his first game. It’s an exhibition game, but yet, playing a high level of competition, and I guarantee you it was the most physical game he’s ever been in, in his life, guarantee it. And Ja’Kobi, again, he’s got a reputation, and people are going to get after him. He’s going to have to learn to adjust to it himself. 

Why Tennessee freshmen guards Amari Evans and Troy Henderson did not play

“You know what, we got to figure out a rotation. We start for real here next weekend. And that was the one thing we wanted to try to figure out coming in, how we could keep going, what we can get to, and what I will tell you about those guys, and I told them after the game, I think all those guys are going to play at some point this year if they continue to work like they are. They’re young, but we played nine guys double-digit minutes. There’s only 200 minutes in a game, but we need those guys. I thought Amaree Abrams has gotten so much better in the last week and a half. I really do. I think he’s starting to figure it out a little bit more. But the bottom line is, we’re just trying to figure out a rotation right now and hope those guys will continue to push and find a way to make us put them out there.”

If Tennessee’s J.P. Estrella was on any type of minutes restriction as he works his way back from a foot injury

“No. Nope. He just, again, breakdowns. We’re in a game, we got to get to a point where we don’t have just little simple breakdowns that we had tonight, and some of our older guys did some of that, but just simple things. His minutes will certainly go up, certainly. I want to see Jaylen’s minutes go up. You know, Cade’s will get back. I mean, he’s nursed his shoulder and he’s added a strain the last couple of weeks, but he’ll get back.”