Rick Barnes previews Tennessee Basketball's season opener vs. Mercer

What head coach Rick Barnes said during his media availability Thursday afternoon about No. 18 Tennessee’s season opener against Mercer on Monday night (7 Eastern Time, SEC Network+) at Food City Center:

His takeaways from the Duke exhibition game after watching the film

“Obviously, it was just great (experience). How we started the game, obviously, (not) anything like what we wanted to, and we still built a lead. But I think over time you do that, it comes back to get you, which it did. And the second half we came out, we were just really, really bad defensively. But give Duke credit. I love obviously some of the things that they do. But we got a lot out of it, we really did. And the best response was what happened after we watched the tape, and then go out on the court and see guys really lock in. But it also goes back to the things we had talked about going in, about details and being able to talk through some situations. Obviously, we’ve got a long way to go, like I think most teams do defensively, with as many new guys as we have. But it was a great experience for us. And again, the best thing about it was the response after the film and how we went out and this week we have tried to get better.”

If there’s any mindset change now that Tennessee is entering the regular season 

“Well, you keep building. You realize that every team you play, you’ve got good players and every team, every game is going to be a little bit different. Each game will take on a different personality. It’s just like we prepped for Duke and even the week before, what we could for Ohio State, as time goes on. But these early games, some of it you have to go off of what you see in maybe one game or an exhibition game or some things from last year. But the prep is important. I thought our guys will learn from both of those two already, the way they personally have to prep. And there’s no doubt we got a group of guys that want to do well. And they saw what we’ve talked about all year, that the key is not to beat yourself. And we did a lot to help Duke beat us. And that’s the things we’ve got to clean up.”

If he expected a drop in defense early on based on what Tennessee lost from last season’s roster

“Yeah. Oh, yeah. There’s no doubt we knew that going in, that would happen. But we also knew that a lot of other areas we had to get into. But this week we’ve obviously tried to clean up all that as we continue to move with our guys and see what’s best for them to adjust to what we think each one of those guys need. But yeah, we knew (it). You can’t lose the guys that we’ve lost over the last two years and not take a little bit of a dive. The good thing is we think we’ve got a chance to be as good as we were, but it’s just going to take some time.”

If Tennessee made the same mistakes against Duke as they were against Ohio State in the closed scrimmage 

“A couple. The first two threes (Duke) got were because of breakdowns with our post guys. I thought Bishop (Boswell) had done a really good job starting the game defensively, guarding the guy that can really shoot. And when he went out of the game, our post guys gave (Isaiah) Evans two quick looks that should not happen. And that goes back to scouting report and urgency, detail, paying attention to detail. And you let certain guys get going like that, they don’t need much to start feeling it. And they present problems with their length. They pass the ball well. … We did not do a good job at deflections. We didn’t even get really half of what we want to get to. And they were throwing the ball over top of us and they made some really good plays that way. But it all can be fixed, but it’s got to become a habit after we do get it fixed.”

What he saw from Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell this offseason for him to start, fluidity of the lineup moving forward

“Well Bishop’s work. He knows what we need him to do. And I thought he came out defensively and really worked really hard against a really good team, getting screened and doing the things he had to do. And I think going forward with our lineup, it’ll be again, we’re still finding that out ourselves in terms of the fluidity of it. I don’t know how I can answer that right now because we’re going to wait and see. We’re still waiting to see some separation with some guys and see who’s going to kind of grab it and that we can count on, that we can trust consistently to go out every single time and do what they need to do.”

Candace Parker being inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame

“Oh, she’s truly a Hall of Famer. A person that has made an incredible impact everywhere she’s been. She’s definitely left every program she was a part of better than she found it. And I’m obviously personally just so excited for her because I had a great blessing to get to know her and know how much the game meant to her. I think you look back, I think you definitely said she maximized the ability that she had. And she is a person, again, she’s affected the game in a very positive way.”

Tennessee’s rebounding issues against Duke

“Well, we got hurt on (Cameron Boozer’s) six offensive rebounds were huge. That’s a very difficult thing to defend. He reminded me, the last guy I said that’s as good as that as anybody I’ve seen is when Edey was at Purdue, he was great at just collecting his misses and putting them back or getting fouled. He (Boozer) was great. He got a great second jump to get back up there. Really good hands. And then obviously he made his free throws, but he’s a good player. But still an area that you look at the rebounding and the free throw discrepancy where we just did not do a good enough job getting fouled because we took too many shots that we shouldn’t have taken without trying to make them defend and again all that can be fixed and of course we’re going to be in a lot of games like that obviously and we’re going to have to fix it.”

Tennessee’s Nate Ament progress from the Ohio State scrimmage to Duke exhibition

“Well, I mean you got two teams that played differently obviously but you know both teams played pretty much five out and were we better with some of the defensive things that we did in the Ohio State game?  We were, but were we good enough? We weren’t. And I think they understand. I think if you ask them as a group is how we harp on the details, I think they’re finding out that if you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves. And we have come up short in both of those games in terms of the details that need to be taken care of.” 

What he knows about Mercer basketball

“A lot of respect for Coach (Ryan) Ridder. Met him when he was at UT Martin, obviously played against him. Terrific coach. He’s got his style he likes to play and they’re very good, extremely well coached. He obviously did a great job at Martin and now he’s at another program that’s always had great basketball. He does a great job with his team.”

The adjustments he’s hoping Tennessee PG Ja’Kobi Gillespie makes from the Duke exhibition

“I think what Ja’Kobi found (out), the game plan, because of what he did against Ohio State, and (Duke) got to see that tape and they game planned for him. They came out early and jumped him on ball screens. And I didn’t think he settled back in after that. They didn’t stay with it all the time. I thought he got — I think anytime you go into a game and everything’s gonna be based on your offense, and he’s a big part of what we want to do offensively. I think he’s learning, really, how to play the point in terms of adjustments and how he’s got to make them himself throughout the game because he’s going to see different things. People are trying to keep him off balance and get physical with him. I thought that was something that they were definitely, he was a hit. I mean, there was no doubt after watching the Ohio State tape that they said we’ve got to go after him and that’s what they did. Just tried to be very, very physical with him, which I thought was great for him.”

Where he expects Tennessee freshman forward Nate Ament to get better

“Nate’s going to be fine. Where Nate showed me, again, is his maturity level. I mean, no one was more disappointed than him after that game, because I think he would tell you that he didn’t have the right mindset going in. And I’m not saying he wasn’t prepared to play, because I think he was, but he came in the day after the game, sat down with coaches and watched the tape, and then as we’re sitting in the film room as a team, pointing out the obvious, that day he went out on the court and showed his maturity at a high level. 

“Nate’s not a person that thinks he knows everything. He’s very humble. You can’t get better in this game if you’re not humble. You can’t. If you’ve got an attitude — he’s anything but that. But no one took his performance harder than he did. But being the kind of player he is, it’s just going to be so neat watching him grow as this year goes on. It’s just going to be so neat because, again, his maturity level is at an extremely high level.”

If Tennessee will play an exhibition at Duke next October

“We’re not that far down the road yet. Would we? I mean, I thought it was great for both of us. You know, Danny White has always wanted to do a thing from the time that this staff started. He wanted to play a team back-to-back Sundays. He thought it’d be great for TV. As you could imagine, and I know what he’s thinking now, and after doing it after that kind of game on Sunday night, it’d be neat to go do it a week later with the same team. I think that Danny said it’d be great TV, it’d be great for the fans, it’d be great for everybody. I see where he’s coming from. He’s tried to work that out with some schools and going forward, I hope we can because I do think it’s a great concept on his part.”