Rick Barnes acknowledges attempted timeout call before buzzer-beater, reason official missed it

Rick Barnes said he made just one good coaching decision during Tennessee‘s 79-76 win over Alabama — he didn’t get the timeout before Jahmai Mashack‘s buzzer-beating, game-winning shot.

However, that wasn’t from a lack of trying, the Volunteers head coach revealed after the win.

“To be honest with you, I was calling time out (during Jahmai Mashack’s shot),” Barnes explained. “I didn’t see the play. I knew when the way they lined up, Shack and I made eye contact and I felt like if he could get it, we get it as far down the floor.

“If we could just get it across half court and have one second on the clock, we got a play where I thought we could get a high-percentage shot instead of the shot from half court. … I didn’t tell the referee I was going to call timeout. I normally tell them and they would probably have given it to me. But I was screaming and, really, I did not see the shot.”

The moment happened quickly, so Tennessee didn’t have time to call the game-winning play without a timeout. After all, it was Alabama ball as the Crimson Tide were set to attempt a buzzer-beater of their own. The Vols were ready to play defense in that exact moment.

“We went with the biggest lineup we could put out there and it worked out for us,” Barnes said.

An unforced error in the form of a 5-second inbounds call on Alabama gave the ball back to Tennessee.

Zakai Zeigler inbounded the ball to Mashack. As soon as he reached half-court, Barnes can be seen signaling timeout to the official. Zeigler appeared to do the same, as he was seen next to the official when Mashack put up the shot. He was seen jumping up and down in what appeared to be frustration with the lack of acknowledgment so close to the official.

Zeigler appeared to be unsure at first if the timeout was called, or if the shot was good. He put his hands on his head and took a moment before celebrating with his team. Barnes threw his hands into the air after the shot went down.

JAHMAI MASHACK IS A HOOPER pic.twitter.com/LgwcqyBiz2

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 1, 2025

“I’ll be honest with you, Shack’s never been in that position where he was today, but his basketball IQ and the fact we’ve done it enough. And again, my deal was, if he couldn’t get it to ‘Z’ (Zakai Zeigler) to go. He shot it and I’m glad he did. I’m glad the referee didn’t hear me call timeout.” 

The victory was a massive one for the Volunteers, who are trying to solidify themselves as a potential 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.