Rick Barnes: Tennessee's defense was 'soft' in loss at Ole Miss
Rick Barnes stopped himself mid-sentence. Asked Wednesday night about all the fouls No. 4 Tennessee committed at the rim against Ole Miss, and how many times the Rebels scored and got three-point play opportunities, the head coach had only one way he could describe it.
“We play like we were — that’s soft, honestly,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference after the Vols lost 78-76 at SBJ Pavilion in Oxford. “That’s being soft. That’s you not really trying to go in and make plays on the ball.”
The emphasis — how Barnes and his coaching staff want the Vols to play — is confrontation at the rim. There was little to no confrontation at Ole Miss, where the Rebels forced the issue in the second half.
They rallied from down eight points while dominating in rebounding (24-13 after halftime, including 11-2 on the offensive glass) and points in the paint (46 for Ole Miss to just 20 for Tennessee).
Rick Barnes: ‘There’s got to be confrontation (at the rim)’
“And guys slide out of the way,” Barnes said, continuing to dismantle his team’s defensive effort. “There’s got to be a confrontation there. And we’ve been a pretty good rim-protecting team this year, but we weren’t tonight. And you can’t give up, I mean, I don’t know how many and-ones.”
There were six and-one opportunities for Ole Miss, with the Rebels getting three in each half.
Jaemyn Brakefield had three of his own, starting with a three-point play to get Ole Miss back within four with 10:24 left. He scored all of his 19 points not only in the second half, but in that final 10:24, with a three-point play to tie the game with 7:20 left and again with 5:11 left.
Zakai Zeigler hit a three to put Tennessee up 61-58 with 7:36 left and Jordan Gainey hit a three with 5:35 left for a 66-63 lead.
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“And we foul on a three-point shooter again,” Barnes said, “give up a four-point play there. We foul 75 feet from the basket, things like that. That’s a recipe for losing. And that’s what we did.”
Up Next: No. 4 Tennessee vs. South Carolina, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET, SEC Network
The four-point opportunity — Jaylen Murray made a 3-pointer, but missed the foul shot that followed — and the foul in the backcourt both belonged to Cade Phillips.
Phillips played only six minutes after picking up the two fouls, despite starting center Felix Okpara having two fouls of his own in the second half.
“We didn’t think he was locked in,” Barnes said of Phillips.
Not many Tennessee players were in the second half.
Ole Miss went 0-for-8 from the 3-point line after halftime, but made 19 of 31 shots from inside the arc. The Rebels had offensive rebounds on 11 of their 21 misses, including the one that led to Brakefield’s go-ahead points with 7.5 seconds left.
“I told our team I thought (Ole Miss) wanted the game more,” Barnes said, “which is always disappointing.”
