Rick Barnes reveals what has changed with his Tennessee team from a year ago

The No. 3 seeded Tennessee Volunteers just 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, after 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 what changed from a year ago.

“But, we’re a little bit older,” Barnes said. “We came in with great respect for Longwood. We know that anybody that goes through their league like they did. But, our older players I thought showed great maturity when the game started,” the Tennessee head coach 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 to be one of the most dangerous teams in the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket.

The Volunteers had five players score double digits in the game, 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 on Thursday, he did not disappoint for Tennessee faithful. 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.

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