Rick Barnes defends how SEC officials call games, sees NCAA Tournament benefit

The Tennessee Volunteers dropped their game against in-state rival Vanderbilt on Saturday. Head coach Rick Barnes watched his team struggle with the Commodores’ defensive pressure throughout the game, but that pressure didn’t amount to anything he wasn’t happy to see SEC officials let everyone play through.

After the game, Rick Barnes was asked about the play of Chaz Lanier, who shot well, scoring a team-high 17 points but also turned the ball over five times. That became a jumping-off point for Barnes to explain the physicality while sharing he doesn’t mind SEC officials calling games the way they do because it’s actually beneficial come the NCAA Tournament.

“He’s going to adjust,” Rick Barnes said. “People are being very physical with him. We can throw out freedom of movement. That rule’s gone. I mean they’ve made a big emphasis on it. I mean, I can say that both ways. I can say that against us. I mean they’re gonna let, I can show you tape of us, everybody, guys coming off screen, arms are wrapped around them. If that’s the way they’re going to call the NCAA Tournament, that’s the way they’ve got to call this.”

Rick Barnes is referring to the freedom of movement rule, which was introduced in 2015 to decrease the amount of physical contact. However, it’s always been a vague rule and one that different coaches had different feelings about.

Certainly, for Rick Barnes, having the SEC officiate game relatively similarly to how they’ll be called in the NCAA Tournament is a welcome sight, even if it created issues for the Volunteers against Vanderbilt.

“And we’ve always said, I’ve always believed when you get in the NCAA Tournament from an official standpoint, they don’t replay no calls, normally. So, they let guys, they let it go. If that’s the way it’s going to be. That’s good. So we can all adjust to it,” Barnes said.

“But what’s really tough is when you’re in a league where they’re calling this and that. And I can tell you from experience that tournament is called different. Which I think it’s great and if we’re gonna do this now, we all have to adjust to it. But that rule is, we can forget that rule because there’s not a lot of movement out there, and I would say the same thing about the way we try to play defense.”

Tennessee ended up dropping the game to Vanderbilt 76-75. It was just the Volunteers’ second loss of the season and saw them shoot 48 percent from the field while getting to the free throw line for 21 shots. They also turned the ball over 11 times.

Rick Barnes and the Volunteers will look to respond and bounce back against a tough Mississippi State team on Tuesday.