Rick Barnes discusses relationship with Juwan Howard, family

The No. 3 seeded Tennessee Volunteers throttled the No. 14 seeded Longwood Lancers on CBS a few moments ago, 88-56. With the win, the Volunteers moved on to face the No. 11 seed Michigan Wolverines on Saturday. The feeling this year was much better than the 2021 NCAA Tournament for the Volunteers–when they were bounced early by the Oregon State Beavers in the first round, 70-56. After the win on Thursday afternoon, Jamie Erdahl of CBS caught up with Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes to talk about his relationship with Juwan Howard and his family.

“We recruited Juwan’s son and I got to know his family. He’s got just a beautiful family. Juwan’s a terrific guy. So, hey, we’ve got to play and we’ve got to compete,” Barnes said.

The Volunteers couldn’t miss against Longwood, connecting on 60 percent of their shots from the field. They also torched the nets from three-point range, connecting on 14-of-24 threes (58.3 percent). Tennessee showed just why they are expected by many to be one of the most dangerous teams in the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket.

The Volunteers had five players score in double-digits on Thursday, Kennedy Chandler, John Fulkerson, Zakai Zeigler, Josiah- Jordan James, and Santiago Vescovi. Vescovi has shown he’s one of the purest shooters in America all season long and he did not disappoint for Tennessee faithful in their first round matchup. He drilled 6-of-8 three pointers, with all 18 of his points coming from beyond-the-arc.

Tennessee extinguished all doubt early in this game, jumping out to a 54-29 lead at the end of the first half. The Lancers would never get remotely close. The Volunteers shared the ball beautifully in this game and finished with 29 assists. Tennessee also outrebounded the Lancers, 32-24.

Before the NCAA Tournament began, Rick Barnes talked about how good his team was playing after they won the 2022 SEC Tournament crown.

“I think any coach would tell you that we have played good basketball or we wouldn’t be where we are right now,” stated Barnes. “We always talk about we can be better. And there are certain areas of the game that even on the defensive end and offensive end that we think we can get better and we need to get better. Because every team in this tournament has played good basketball. Or they wouldn’t be here. They’re playing at a high level this time of year.”

The No. 3 seed Tennessee Volunteers will face the No. 11 seeded Michigan Wolverines on Saturday in the Round of 32 in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

On3’s Stephen Samra also contributed to this article.