University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Vols 72, ETSU 68
December 22, 2016 | Men's Basketball
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Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes
(Opening statement)
"As those guys (Detrick Mostella and Grant Williams) said, it really was a big win. East Tennessee State is a talented team. We told our guys coming in that they are as talented as, obviously, some teams in the SEC. You look at them on paper, and I think Coach (Steve) Forbes does a great job. His teams know what they are looking for. I thought our defensive effort was terrific tonight. Shembari (Phillips’) second half was really good, but Grant’s blocks (were great). There were a lot of good things. There wasn’t a guy that went in the game who didn’t help in some way. It was a really nice win for us."
(On how a closely contested game helps the team heading into SEC play next week)
"I think the biggest thing is that they know now we need to stay together as a team. A couple of times we got a little ragged, where the game was both teams playing as hard as they can play. We’re going to be in close games. We’ve been in close games. We got this one done. Again, collectively, it was a great team win."
(On Detrick Mostella’s growth as a player, based on key rebound at the end of the game)
"Well, one thing for certain is that he’s better when he rebounds the ball, and when he gets into the game. Tonight, it was really neat hearing those guys before I stepped into the huddle to talk to them. It was amazing how they were talking to each other. They haven’t had that all year. They were talking and encouraging each other. They were terrific. They really were. That’s a sign of where we want to go. We need them to be more vocal. Going into league play, as you said, if we play the way we’re capable, we’ll be in a lot of close games, obviously. But, these guys know they can close them out. But, it’s not going to be easy. We still have to keep growing."
(On why he changed the starting lineup)
"I don’t know. That’s a good question. Today, believe it or not, when we were over here, I thought Jordan Bone would play. I’m just kidding. I was watching him work out (at today’s shootaround). We come back today, and today was the first time he’d done anything with us. It goes back to what we told our guys. The last couple of games Shembari hasn’t done what he did tonight. In the last three or four games, he’d gotten to where he was shooting the ball too much. He wasn’t running our team. We wanted to get our team and offense going early. We need him to play the role he did in the second half. Kyle (Alexander) had a good game against them last year. You go back to practice… Detrick’s been really good. Jordan Bowden is not himself right now. Like some freshmen around this time of year, they hit the wall a little bit. He actually came up to me at halftime and said to me, ‘I’d like for you to start Detrick in my place. He deserves to be out there.’ I said, ‘He does, but I don’t want to take him (Detrick) out of his rhythm, because he wants to be there. You just go. Give us what you can, and we’ll get him back in there.’ That’s when you know you have a group of guys that are thinking. The fact is, I thought we came in and had a great practice yesterday. In yesterday’s practice Lamonté, K (Turner), Kyle, and Detrick were tremendous. That went into (making the lineup change) as much as anything."
(On the possibility of freshman point guard Jordan Bone returning for the Dec. 29 game at Texas A&M)
"That’s what we’re hoping. He hasn’t had any contact with us live. But, he’s running. He dummied our offense with us today. Again, when he comes back, he’ll have to work his way back in it. He’s not conditioned where he needs to be, but having him back will be (exciting). Everyone’s excited, because he’s such a big part of this team. Grant needs to get the ball more. Defensively, he did a great job (tonight). He blocked shots and rebounded the ball. Again, how many guys did we play tonight? I think all of them, and then you add Bone to it, 12 guys basically. We’re going to go with who’s getting it done. Who we start is not that important. As the game got going, Kwe (Parker) was really good. Detrick kind of feeds off Kwe. Kwe is one of those guys… he came into the game against Gonzaga. We were down, and he said, ‘Detrick, we have got to go get these guys.’ He didn’t tell us that. He told Detrick. So when we’re going down the floor, we’re going to start picking them up. So, I think that our guys understand that Kwe can bring that. We still have a long way to go with these guys, but it was a good win."
(On Grant Williams’ shot-blocking ability)
"Well, we watched him. He was not in shape in high school. We’ve had success with guys like Grant. PJ Tucker, and I could go down and name a bunch of guys that size. He’s got great hands. He’s much more athletic than he’s even shown. That’s what I’ve gotten on him for. I said, ‘You’re better than you’re showing.’ The last couple of games, and even in practice, he’s been learning how to fight through fatigue. He’s a smart kid, and he’s learning the college game. He’s getting better. Believe me, he’s quick off his feet. The biggest thing he’s got to still learn to do is play when he’s tired, be aggressive, and be more explosive on the offensive end."
(On the importance of defense, especially early in the game when shots were not being made)
"That’s what we’ve told our guys. We watched our tape from a year ago, and we weren’t very good defensively. You guys know we are further along now than we have ever been. We tell them, ‘If you’re going to go on the road to win, then you have got to guard, because there are nights where it’s not going to go in.’ I thought we did defend. They shot 43 (percent) for the game. They did a good job driving the ball. We came to help, and they dumped it off and got some plays that way. I thought we did a really good job on the perimeter with their guards. You’re not going to win on the road unless you guard, or unless you’re just unconscious making a bunch of shots."
Tennessee guard Detrick Mostella
(On the team’s approach coming into the game)
"We all knew what we needed to come and do tonight, and that was play defense and play hard. The scoring was going to come. I feel like my role playing defense was pretty big, guarding (T.J.) Cromer. I feel like that helped out a lot."
(On his 13-point spurt to close out the first half)
"It felt great. We weren’t scoring at the time and we needed some offense from somewhere. Luckily, the offense started falling. I started making shot, and everybody started getting into their routine. It helped out a lot."
(On his role of tending to provide instant offense off the bench)
"The main thing has been just working on my defense—trying to play defense when I get in and bring energy. Coach always tells me to bring energy. I feel like the energy I bring helps my team out, and it helps my offense out. When I’m out there getting steals and getting blocks, it helps the whole team. It just makes me play harder."
(On the small-gym environment)
"It was (a pretty good atmosphere). We’ve been in this position before. We had a lot of close games that we lost. Tonight, we took a big step going into Christmas by overcoming getting this win. It’s big for this school, and it’s big for us because we’ve been down before."
(On the loud environment when the game got tight)
"Coach told us this was going to be a big game. We feel like we answered the call—we came out and played hard."
Tennessee forward Grant Williams
(On if he felt pressure to step up in the post when teammate Kyle Alexander got in foul trouble)
"I didn’t really think of it that way. I just thought we all needed to play team defense in order for us to win this game. They’re a very talented team—I think they’re picked to win their league. They’re just a good group of guys when it comes to scoring the ball, so (I knew) I needed to do a better job defensively (rather) than focus on the offensive end."
(On the team defense Tennessee played during the final five minutes)
"We just communicated a lot better in the final couple minutes, I’d say. We really just did a better job of rotating and had each other’s backs. If I went to block a shot, someone else would come down and crack my guy. We just did a better job guarding the ball those last couple minutes, I think."
(On how it feels to win a close game)
"It’s a really good win. They’re a great team. Going into Christmas and the holidays, we really needed this win to keep on a good stride and try to go into conference play with a win on our back. We’ve got to try to keep it going when we go to play Texas A&M."
(On what it’s like on the court when Detrick Mostella gets hot offensively)
"I wouldn’t say it was surprising at all. We know Detrick’s capabilities, and we know whenever it’s time we can call upon him. He does a better job playing defense than most people give him credit for. That really fueled his fire on offense, I believe. He just did a great job tonight. I wasn’t shocked by it."
