What Rick Barnes said after No. 18 Tennessee beat Northern Kentucky on Saturday

What head coach Rick Barnes said during his press conference after No. 18 Tennessee beat Northern Kentucky 95-56 Saturday afternoon at Food City Center:

Tennessee freshman forward Nate Ament’s 23 points, with 15 in the second half 

“With Nate, I thought he was assertive. I thought not just what he was doing driving the ball, his passes over the top of the zone were big. Thought he was really starting to see the court better. And you’re playing against a team that, one, I have a great deal of respect for Darrin Horn and who he is and the way he runs (his program). We told her team coming in, his team’s going to play as hard as anybody can play you. They’re never going to stop playing. We’re going to play against the team that we probably won’t see a defense the way they play it, with their matchup zone. But I thought our size was a huge factor in the game. Obviously, we were able to play over top of them. But we did a much better job as a team doing some things that we practice. Nate was assertive, which is important, but without watching the film, I thought the mental focus was much better than it’s been, where the focus was more towards what we have to do as a team to get better, as opposed to when the season starts, everybody’s wanting to think they’ve got to go do something. And all they have to do is what we practice. And I thought that showed up today.”

What he liked about Tennessee point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists)

“I think more and more he’s learning how to (run) the system, how it works. And if he’ll make the system work, it’ll work for him. That’s been proven. And in terms of what we do, he would tell you he’s never been in a position to do something like this. He’s going to keep getting better and better, but he’s going to keep getting the attention of the other team. Everybody’s going to try to put pressure on him, whether it’s full court, three-quarter court, whatever it may be, half court. He’s going to bull’s eye on him, because of what he what he is as a player. And and that’s never really happened to him at the level that is going to continue to happen.”

The decision to start Cade Phillips at the four in place of Jaylen Carey

“Just felt that we wanted, with them having a guy that could step out at the four and could shoot the ball, we wanted to make sure that with we were switching and doing different things. We didn’t want to give that up early. Again, I was impressed with Northern Kentucky, the fact they came in and I thought we were guarding, and they started the game where they made some shots. And you could tell they weren’t the least bit intimidated, which I think is, again, a great compliment Darrin and his staff. And I think they’re going to be a really good team. Again, our size was a huge factor, but that was the reason to put Cade out there, because we just felt like we could extend our defense a little bit more.” 

If Tennessee took a step forward with 12 turnovers, after having 19 on Monday

“We did. I mean, some, you look at Nate’s, he stepped out of bounds. Ja’Kobi, his first turn over, I said what are you doing? I said we’ve never tried to make that pass in our transition game, ever. So things like that. Obviously, sometimes you don’t understand it. I thought for the most part when we went to the numbers and getting guys in, they stayed within the flow. And second half, we turned it over. Guys didn’t finish cuts, like with the DeWayne (Brown’s) turnover, that was not DeWayne’s turnover. Even when it kept going, it was the right play. So some of that, again, we’ve got a chance to get a lot better, but we took care of the ball a lot better tonight than we did the other night, obviously.”

Tennessee’s offensive efficiency this early in the season

“Again. I thought guys play within themselves as opposed to thinking he had to make something happen. I thought they let the offense come to him. Thought our passing for the most part, was probably the best it’s been all year in terms of putting the ball where it needed to be, and not taking guys out of shooting rhythm. But I thought just demeanor overall, for the most part, was where they were seeing the court, not thinking I got to do something every time I got it. I thought Bishop did a really good job. I thought he was again locked in defensively, he works so hard on shooting so it was great to see that go in for him which is huge. And he would have played more in the second half, but got his foot stepped on. We just felt like we didn’t need to do it.”

JP Estrella’s offensive production, how that changes the Tennessee’s potential as a team

“It changes everything and he can do more. I promise you, he can do more of that. And he’s doing it, again, he’s had a year off where it always is tough. When you and you think back at the end of his freshman year, you felt like he was making the strides, and he still doesn’t have a clue how good he can be. He’s such a humble, free loving guy. And I told him, I said, you can be like that. But when you get on the floor, you have to change the way you see things, the way you do things, but there’s just so much more there. And I think he’ll get there.”

Nate Ament’s offensive aggression 

“Well, again, I think he’s young. I mean, you think about he’s three, four games out of high school. But he’s a good player, and the more he plays and, one, he works at it. He takes serious our scouting reports. He’s got respect for who we’re playing, but he’s starting to understand more and more each day what he’s capable of doing and what he’ll find out here early every game is gonna be a little bit different. But the mindset coming in was again— I thought he got fouled at the end of the half when they were chest to chest with on a three pointer, and then the first play of the second half, I thought it was a foul. And it goes back to what I tell you guys, officials need these early games probably more (or) as much as we do, and that’s why we need more exhibition games. Let those guys get more because they work hard and it’s hard to walk out there and start— they don’t get to do this as much as (we do). We’ve been doing this for a long time. But we just wanted to be aggressive and assertive and do that.”

What he saw from JP Estrella’s tenacity to grab rebounds, finish with a double-double

“Again, he’s up there. If he’ll fight for his space, if he’ll fight for where he needs to be, and again, he’s still gonna have to play quicker, because the more you do, the more people going to come after you quicker and you’re not gonna be able to play around with it. You’re going to have to be able to get set to score the ball before he really gets it. But he’s making strides, and like I said, he’s just getting started.”

Nate Ament handling the ball pressure against Northern Kentucky, seeing over double teams

“It’s great for his teammates, because he’s a very unselfish player. I mean, he enjoys passing the basketball. How many assists did he have today? Five. Again, I think his versatility separates him from a lot of players, and his humility, and the fact he’s humble, and he’s going to continue to work. He’s not satisfied. But again, the more he gets to do this, the better he’s going to get.”

How Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell affects the game beyond the box score

“His defense. I mean, we’re still — Bishop plays so hard, and I’ve told him now he’s got to get smarter with it because sometimes he will get overly aggressive. He’s tough, he works at it. He knows that’s a role we need him to play, and he’s there now. He has been as consistent on that end as anyone this year, obviously, and he’s just, again, I think he’s got a chance to become even more elite on that end of the court.”

What Tennessee’s defense was able to do to limit Northern Kentucky after NKU’s fast start

“Well, I think our depth, you know, you wear on people. You know, we worked really hard, and we’ve worked hard, and we got to get so much better staying in front of the ball to keep us out of rotation. Obviously, we’re doing a lot of switching out there, where our post guys are guarding guards. We’re getting better at that kick out where we switch on the ball and they roll a big guy in, and normally the other post guy can kick them out. Those type things. Talking, we’ve got so much further to go to talk. I thought the mindset was really good coming in, in terms of the preparation. And again, we spent a whole week trying to clean up the offense, because we haven’t been very good, obviously. I just thought the mindset was so different today where guys were really thinking about as a team, let’s do what we practice and see what happens. And I thought that was pretty clear that we did that today.”

How close JP Estrella is defensively to being where Tennessee needs him to be

“Well, I don’t think any of them are, where we need them to be yet. Is he getting there? He will, the more he’s out there. Other than maybe Bishop — Bishop is obviously doing a great job on the ball, he’ll keep getting better away from it, learning how to really, I think rest himself a little bit because he’s working hard and trying to get through it. But J.P, Felix, all of them are learning. The reason we started Cade, we only have a four that can shoot. You know, we got to get those guys out there where they can really defend the three-point line. And that’s all new. (Felix Okpara) has obviously done it in the past. Cade’s done it. But, you know, Jaylen (Carey) is gonna have to learn to do it at a higher level. DeWayne Brown’s learning how to do it. And so is J.P., learning how to get out there to help us with all the zoom actions and when they’re in those ball screens, just understanding the coverage we’re in and they’ve got to execute it.”