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Rick Barnes lands bonus for reaching third-consecutive Sweet 16 with Tennessee

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•03/23/25•

BarkleyTruax

Rick Barnes, Tennessee Basketball | Wesley Hale-Imagn Images
(Wesley Hale-Imagn Images ) Mar 5, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes reacts against the Mississippi Rebels during the first half at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes has earned a $200,000 bonus for leading the Volunteers to a third-straight Sweet 16, per USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz. His group defeated UCLA 67-58 on Saturday night to advance through to the second weekend.

On top of his most recent sum, the win also expects Barnes to lock up an additional $100,000 for the Volunteers’ No. 2 final ranking in the AP Top 25 poll. Barnes is now expected to clear $700,000 in bonuses this season.

The Vols advance to the Sweet 16 having beaten Wofford and UCLA. Tennessee defeated the Terriers handily 77-62, and led the Bruins by as many as 19 points during the Round of 32. Barnes credited his players for staying true to Tennessee’s culture after the win.

“It goes back to leadership with our players. They deserve all the credit,” Barnes said. “They want to be coached, they know what we as a coaching staff expect from them every day and they know we’re going to try to be as consistent as we can doing our jobs and we want them to do that. It’s just a great testament to these guys that they really do like each other. They care, and they love our fan base.

“Obviously it’s great being here and having a lot of — we’ve got the best fan base in the country. We believe that, everybody says it, we truly believe it.”

Tennessee fans didn’t have to travel far to watch their team play during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The spent the first two matchups in Lexington inside Rupp Arena, a roughly two and a half hour drive from Knoxville. Now, they’ll have to go a bit further north if they want to see their Volunteers play during the Sweet 16 in Indianapolis.

They will match up against the winner between No. 3-seed Kentucky, the team whose home floor Tennessee just won two games on, and No. 6-seed Illinois. UK defeated the Troy Trojans 76-57 in the first round, while the Illini defeated Xavier, who had beat Texas in the First Four, comfortably, 86-73.

For now, Tennessee can sit back and relax knowing they’ve made it to the second weekend as the Vols await their Sweet 16 opponent. Tip times won’t be announced until the conclusion of the Round of 32, but Tennessee knows it will play for a spot in the Final Four on Friday, March 28.