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How Santiago Vescovi responded to being called out by Rick Barnes

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey12/06/23GrantRamey
Santiago Vescovi
(Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK) Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi (25) takes a shot during an NCAA college basketball game between Tennessee and George Mason at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. Tennessee defeated George Mason 87-66.

Rick Barnes wasn’t seeing what he wanted from his veteran players during Tennessee basketball’s practice Monday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena. So he took matters into his own hands and handled the business himself. 

“The guys would tell you I was not very happy with practice yesterday,” Barnes said Tuesday night. “I wasn’t. They knew that last night (when) we had our last team meeting. And there’s no doubt they knew exactly how I felt.”

Barnes wasn’t any happier Tuesday morning during his team’s shoot around before hosting George Mason a few hours later. 

“I didn’t speak to any one of them during shoot around,” Barnes said after Tennessee’s 87-66 win. “I thought they were great during shoot around.”

‘I expect Santi and Josiah and Zakai to lead this team’

But until something changes, Barnes will continue to be the demanding voice.

It’s not that he wants to play that role. He wants the pointed leadership to come from Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James, his two fifth-year seniors, and Zakai Zeigler, his junior point guard. But that’s not happening enough through the first eight games of the season. 

“I expect Santi and Josiah and Zakai to lead this team,” Barnes said. “I expect it to come from them. And when things aren’t going well in practice, I expect them to be the voice, but if I have to be, I will.”

The biggest critiques have been aimed at Vescovi. After Vescovi went scoreless in the 100-92 loss at North Carolina, getting benched for most of the second half and playing just 14 minutes, Barnes pointed to complacency and inconsistency as the issues.

“I mean, I just told the team that the one thing that I’m really, really guilty of is complacency,” Barnes said after the loss in Chapel Hill. “I can’t stand it. I don’t care who it is.”

“I said it to you guys last week,” Barnes added later, “we’re looking for consistency,”

Vescovi on Tuesday scored seven points in 28 minutes. He went 2-for-4 from the 3-point line, grabbed four rebounds and had three assists. He added a steal and had one turnover. 

Up Next: No. 17 Tennessee vs. No. 20 Illinois, Saturday, Noon ET, CBS

Before practice on Monday, Barnes said Vescovi had responded to the criticism “like you would expect him to.”

“He wasn’t happy with himself (after the North Carolina game) either,” Barnes said. “And he’s had a lot on him lately. I mean, first of all, academically, it’s the hardest semester he’s had since he’s been here. And then, we forget that he also had to take a long trip back to Uruguay before we left to go to Maui.”

Vescovi was away from the team for a week in October, missing both exhibitions games at Michigan State and at home against Lenoir-Rhyne, to be home with his family and his ailing grandmother.

He rejoined the Vols in the days leading up to the season-opening win over Tennessee Tech.

“He’s a pro with the way he goes about everything,” Barnes said. “And, again, he wasn’t happy himself and which I would expect from him.”

What Barnes saw from Vescovi and the other veterans against George Mason was steps in the right direction. 

“I’m gonna do what I do every day,” Barnes said. “But I thought those guys, and I gotta give them credit, I thought they were locked in. I thought they had everybody else locked in.”

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