What Rick Barnes said about officiating after Tennessee's loss to Purdue in the Elite 8

DETROIT — Rick Barnes didn’t blame officiating for No. 2 Tennessee’s 72-66 loss to No. 1 Purdue Sunday afternoon in the Elite Eight. Instead, he explained how difficult it is to defend, and how difficult it is to officiate, Zach Edey.

Purdue’s 7-foot-4, 300-pound center scored 40 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Purdue (33-4) to the win in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional final, carrying the Boilermakers to their first Final Four since 1980.

“You’ve got a very unique player in Zach Edey, very unique,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference at Little Caesars Arena. “It’s a hard game to officiate.”

Edey drew 16 fouls in his 39 minutes and made 14 of 22 free throws. Tennessee (27-9) went just 7-for-11 at the foul line as a team. The Vols had 25 fouls to Purdue’s 12 and sent the Boilermakers to the foul line 33 times, where they scored 21 of their points. 

Barnes worked the officiating crew constantly during timeouts in both the first and second half.

Zach Edey shot 39 free throws in two games against Tennessee this season

When Purdue beat Tennessee 71-67 in the Maui Invitational back in November, the Vols were called for 30 fouls and the Boilermakers shot 48 free throws. Edey has 27 points and 10 rebounds in the win and finished 9-for-17 at the foul line. 

What makes Edey unique, Barnes said, is the physicality he plays with and the physicality required by players on defense to try to keep Edey from getting to his spots.

“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.”

“I think it’s hard for officials because there’s not many guys like that,” Barnes added. “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.”

Tennessee forward Tobe Awaka fouled out with four minutes left. Jahmai Mashack fouled out with 42 seconds left on another foul drawn by Edey. Forwards Jonas Aidoo and JP Estrella finished with three fouls each, too.

“He’s an extremely difficult guy to guard because, again, knowing where he wants the ball,” Barnes said. “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.”

Zach Edey drew 16 fouls in win over Tennessee while Purdue was called for 12 fouls as a team

Barnes described the college game as more physical than the NBA at this point, with officials shifting in recent seasons to allowing more contact on the perimeter and less in the paint. 

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Barnes said. “People would always say that we’re real physical, but there’s a fine line there that goes with it. But when you look at it and see, I said it before coming in that I thought the game there (in the Maui Invitational) was officiated different, and it was there. 

“Some of the perimeter touch fouls in Maui weren’t called today, and I don’t think they should have been. I don’t think they should have been called in Maui.”

Barnes spent five years on college basketball’s rules committee and admitted, from his view, there’s a change in how the game is officiated between games early in the season and games in the NCAA Tournament.

“They would all say this time of year they want players to decide the game,” Barnes said, “which they should, but there’s certain rules that always have to be administered whether we like it or not.”

Barnes admitted his team fouled, too, but circled back to just how hard it is to officiate Edey.

“I don’t care what anybody says,” Barnes said. “He’s a hard guy to do that with because he’s a unique guy in terms of how he plays.”