Rick Barnes stresses need for leadership from Josiah-Jordan James

Tennessee has had a consistent program under Rick Barnes over the years but is hoping to make a jump this season. Part of it is adding some exciting younger guys to the roster but the Vols still have plenty of experience out there. Specifically, Josiah-Jordan James, who is in the midst of his fifth season in Knoxville.

Following Tuesday’s win against Georgia Southern, Barnes emphasized how important James’ leadership is going to be this season. Along with another veteran, Santiago Vescovi, Tennessee will be turning to those two in critical situations. Barnes has a deep relationship with them and considers them his guys.

“He and Santi — they’ve been here longer than anybody,” Barnes said on James. “They’re the two guys that I can really count on.”

However, Barnes did take some time to call out Tennessee’s older crew for their inability to get a big enough cushion against Georgia Southern. Barnes viewed it as a good opportunity to get a ton of younger players in, with the Eagles now having a 0-10 record.

In theory, Tennessee should have won by a lot more than 18. This forced Barnes to keep a few experienced players in the rotation to make sure disaster did not strike. Wanting to run a full group of younger guys out there, Barnes called out his veteran leadership for not being able to get the job done.

“My biggest disappointment — we were wanting to get it stretched out to where we could get those younger guys on the court as a group. They had done a good job playing with the older guys in the first half. Getting them out there as a group, trying to get them an extended run to let them know how hard it is to play as hard as we expect them to play for long periods of time. It’s really part of team building.

“It didn’t happen and it falls where our older guys didn’t do what we expected them to do.”

Tennessee will have plenty of time to develop the young talent. Three more nonconference games are on the schedule before moving into SEC play. With how talented the Vols are, a few blowouts will occur and Barnes can get a younger five out there.

But as the development occurs, James is going to be someone he needs. If Tennessee is going to turn out to be one of the best teams in the SEC, his experience and leadership are going to be a huge reason why.