University of Tennessee Athletics
Barnes' Monday Press Conference Replay
November 14, 2016 | Men's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes spoke to the media for 25 minutes on Monday, providing updates on the Vols' roster and offering his takeaways from Friday's season opener.
Select quotes from Barnes can be found below and the media session can be viewed in its entirety through the video player above.
(On graduate transfer Lew Evans' role on the team)
"What we got Lew Evans for, more than anything, was to be a guy that can give us some experience and shoot the ball. He's a guy that we think can stretch defenses and shoot the ball. We think he has an understanding of the game. He has to rebound, though. There's no doubt about it. He's not going to be the most athletic guy, but there's different ways to block out. The best way to negate someone who can jump is to block them out. It's hard to jump when someone is leaning on you. So, he needs to be a great block-out rebounder. He needs to hit and go get it. The other night, we rebounded the ball even though our execution really wasn't good offensively. We turned down shots. We just weren't really good on the offensive end. Defensively, we broke down where they got too many easy drop-offs for dunks and those type of things. Our team has to rebound as a group. We can't rely on one person to do that. Kyle Alexander did a really nice job for us in the opener in terms of doing his job, but we need everyone to do that for us."
(On freshman point guard Jordan Bone's collegiate debut performance)
"If you go back, the very first play of the game, he does a good job. He does what we need him to do offensively. He goes down and I think he gets fouled the first possession of the game. Then, we come back and we really have a good defensive set. We spent a lot of time working against pressure (during our game prep), and the very first play of the game that we were in that situation, he just threw the ball away. I asked him why he did that, and his answer was, `I don't know.' It goes back to being mentally tough enough to do your job. From that point on, he didn't do that. From that point on, he did a really good job for his first time out, getting his space on the floor and knowing where to keep the ball. Defensively, as a group, we didn't defend the way we needed to. There wasn't a guy that played a perfect game that day. We have different packages in terms of what we use, but we had slippage in areas. We gave up dribble penetration, guys getting beat one-on-one. It was almost like a matador-type of defense. They just opened the door for guys. There's nothing that you can do when you're allowing straight line drives to the basket. Overall, I did like Jordan's presence. I didn't think he was as jumpy and jittery as he was in the exhibition game. I don't know if I'd say I am surprised by anything that we went through. Like I said, we're trying to teach them how to play basketball, but we have to teach them how to win games, too. We talk about what goes into losing. You have to understand what goes into losing, too. We did a lot of things prior to the game that can hurt you when the lights come on. I'm talking about simply from the time you start preparing for the game such as getting dressed and getting ready to go. Where is your mindset? What are you talking about in the locker room with your teammates? Are you guys helping each other get ready? You want your guys to be relaxed and ready to play, but you also want them to be focused on what's at hand. We're not there yet as a group."
(On sophomore forward Kyle Alexander's progression)
"I think Kyle Alexander is still just scratching the surface. I asked them the other day, `Who's the one guy on the team you know absolutely has your back?' The one guy they said was Kyle Alexander. You know why? Because he doesn't care about scoring. He really, truly wants to do his job. We actually get on him to want to score, but the things he can control, he tries to control. I'm talking about with his effort and trying to do his job. He tries to rebound the ball and do the things he needs to do. He's not perfect, but I think his mindset is where you want it to be. You can count on him to try to do the things that he is supposed to do in his position. That's what we need more of. They've all done it at some point in time, but the fact is that it needs to be more consistent."
(On Jordan Bone accepting the demands of playing point guard under Barnes)
"That's something that we talked about during our meeting yesterday. I said to the guys, `I think you all would agree that I have been toughest on Jordan Bone.' And what I love about him is that I've never seen him make a face about it. I've never seen him do anything other than say `yes sir.' I've never see him do anything. So, I think he's tough. I think it's my job to get him tougher and understand that. I'm hard on him, but I've never seen him show any frustration. I watched him one time get upset at himself, but that's part of having a young player that is learning a lot of basketball right now. I'll ask him almost every day, `What have you learned today?' The first thing he said was, `Coach, I've never even heard the word "spacing." I've never heard how to attack parts of the court. I've never heard of those types of things. I didn't know I have to attack certain areas of the floor. I've never done that.' Again, I've been really hard on him, but I love coaching guys like him. You love coaching guys that want to be coached, and he does want to be coached. He wants to be a really good basketball player.
"Kyle Alexander is always in the gym. He can't get enough of it. He wants to be a good basketball player. That's what's neat about being around a bunch of young guys, because you're really going to have the chance to mold them and help them. You can get them to understand that if they do A and B, then they get to do C and D. Most of the time they want to shoot 3-pointers and hang out around the basket like they did in high school, not understanding that you have to come out and be ready to guard ball screens away from the basket. You can't lay back in there and play like you're a one-man zone. I think if you asked every guy on our team, when you watch us play, there are certain things that should be there. Our help defense should be engrained in us right now. How are we going to guard the ball on the sideline? How are we going to guard the ball in the slot area in the middle of the floor? All of those things we should know. We should know that when a shot goes up, we should have five guys on the glass. When guys aren't doing that, you have to ask the question, `Where's your mindset right now? What are you really thinking about?' The film reveals all of that to a point to where as a coach, you're looking for guys who are consistently trying to do the right thing. Sometimes you can block out and the ball can take a different bounce and you might come up with it. Just like if we are running a play, and the guy is open and shoots and misses it, it's okay as long as he took the shot he was supposed to take. If he turns it down for whatever reason--and there's not one guy on the team that we've told not to shoot the ball unless they've gotten themselves in the position where they've taken bad shots--then, we might tell him, `You're not going to shoot the ball until this point in time on the clock.' Because they don't know how to make good decisions without something like that. That's what is neat about it, though. It's fun being around a group of guys that wants to be good. They work at it. They put time in. We knew starting the year that (the upcoming Maui Invitational) was going to be a demand, but we're going to be better for it in the long run, and there's no question about that."
(On sophomore forward Admiral Schofield allowing his 3-point shooting to affect the rest of his game)
"Admiral Schofield knows what we need him to do. We need him to, first of all, play defense and guard the ball. He does have to prove that he can do that. That's why he didn't play as much in the second half, because he didn't guard the ball. We have to guard the ball and get to the help line. When you're doing those things, you're engaged. Missing shots is part of the game, but when you're not doing things that are required to do in order to win games, you have to sit him out and see if someone else can do them. I do think there are guys that, when they miss a shot, they let it affect them, and they can't. Admiral is a hard worker and we love him because he works hard. He's still young too. He's still learning. We do think he can be effective offensively doing the things he does well. Like most young guys, that want to do some things that they're probably not as good at early on. In some cases, it could be shooting 3-pointers. He missed one 3-pointer early (against Chattanooga), and the second one, he was wide open. If he would have done what we talk about--we call it `swing-swing.' To his left, he would have seen Lamonté Turner and Detrick Mostella. Those are two guys who we expect to shoot the ball. So, that's where you expect them to make the extra pass, and maybe one of those guys will make another pass. It's one of those things where you miss one, and you feel like you have to search for another. He will never be graded on whether or not he makes a 3-pointer. If he does that at the right time, that's fine. They're going to be graded on the role that they have to play. Often times, they do let a missed shot compound the problem, and it happened to him on the other end."
