Rick Barnes admits challenge in free throw discrepancy vs. Purdue

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes led the Volunteers to the Elite Eight this season. It was the furthest he’d taken Tennessee during his time in Knoxville and it was just the second time the program ever made it that far in the NCAA Tournament. However, that run ended at the hands of the Purdue Boilermakers.

Following the game, Rick Barnes spoke about the officiating in that Elite Eight loss. In particular, he admitted dealing with the free throw discrepancy that Tennessee had against Purdue was a challenge.

“It’s hard,” Rick Barnes said. “I can go back, and we can all have what we feel about it. I’ve been doing this a long time. I was talking earlier about it. There’s different ways you can foul in this game. There’s different ways you can get fouled.”

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“I’ve always felt that through the years — we lost an NCAA game years ago where we were playing against a team where every touch foul on the perimeter was being called but the physicality inside wasn’t. My question during that game was are we going to call it different inside-outside? It’s kind of changed a little bit and kind of gone the other way. Some of the contact allowed on the perimeter is more so than it used to be, and the inside pretty much — it’s physical. It is. Somebody said it the other day, and it’s true. Our game is more physical than the NBA. It’s not even close with the physicality that’s in our game today,” Barnes said.

“I don’t have a problem with it. People would always say that we’re real physical, but there’s a fine line there that goes with it. But when you look at it and see — I said it before coming in that I thought the game there was officiated different, and it was there. Some of the perimeter touch fouls in Maui weren’t called today, and I don’t think they should have been. I don’t think they should have been called in Maui.”

In the end, Purdue won the game 72-66. The Boilermakers shot 33 free throws in the game compared to only 11 for Tennessee. Both teams shot 63.6 percent from the line. It was the second time these two teams played this season, with Purdue shooting 48 free throws the first time they played. That was, in large part because of Purdue big man Zach Edey. He consistently drew fouls while rarely being called for them.

One thing about the officiating that Rick Barnes noted, in particular, was how clearly it changes over the course of a season.

“But there’s a difference in officiating from the start of the year to the end of the year,” Barnes said. “We know it. Everybody knows it. I was on the rules committee for five years. We talked about it.”

At this point, Rick Barnes explained that he wasn’t trying to complain about the officials. Instead, he just wanted to emphasize how difficult that discrepancy made it for his team to play.

“Again, both teams played their hearts out. Again, I’m not complaining about the officials because you just asked me a question, and I think it’s a very hard game to officiate. Sometimes it’s hard for players to adjust to exactly what’s going on because it’s a tough game to officiate, especially when you have a unique player like Zach. A guy like Dalton [Knecht] on the perimeter, he was getting pushed around a little bit too,” Barnes said.

“That’s where, again, I think it’s — officials, believe me, it’s a hard game to officiate. As much time as I spent on the rules committee and know how hard they work at wanting to get the game right. Again, they would all say this time of year they want players to decide the game, which they should, but there’s certain rules that always have to be administered whether or not we like it or not.”

The loss ended Tennessee’s season. However, it also meant Purdue kept dancing into the Final Four where the Boilermakers will play NC State.