Rick Barnes reveals what it'll take to finish the job vs Texas A&M

2019 was the last time Rick Barnes led his Tennessee Volunteers to the SEC Tournament Championship game. They defeated Kentucky in the semifinals, just as they did Saturday, but three seasons ago Barnes could tell his team didn’t have much left in the tank before the championship and he was right. Tennessee would get blown out by Auburn in the title game.

The difference between now and then — Tennessee is as fresh as can be.

“Well, the last time we were in this situation, it was against Kentucky as well,” Barnes said. “It was one of those games that we had a quick turnaround to play again. We had to really expend so much energy the night before, but these guys are young. I tell you, they are. And I like to think that our older guys, they talked about the chemistry, the maturity with our leadership. It will be on them to get it.

“We’ll talk about it, but it’s going to be on them to truly focus and put the phones down. And they have done a good job of that when it’s time to come in and get our game prep ready. They’ve done a good job of that really pretty much all year long, and we’ll have to continue.”

To Barnes’ point, seven of his Volunteers this season are freshman, while the 2018-19 team Barnes mentioned had only one freshman in Brock Jancek who barely played. Their top six scoring leaders were either juniors or seniors and five members of that team are now playing in the NBA.

Sure, some of the current Tennessee players will be in the league come next season, but what that 2019 Tennessee team was missing is exactly what this year’s team has: star freshman. Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeigler are lighting up the SEC Tournament and continue to prove why the Volunteers are legitimate national championship contenders whether they’re SEC Tournament champions or not.

“I think any coach would tell you that this time of year, you want to win basketball games,” Barnes said. “I mean, you do. People say, ‘well, you might be better off to leave, go home, and regroup.’ I don’t know of any coaches that I’ve ever been around that thought like that.

“This time of year, every game is a playoff game. Every game is a championship game. And you have to be ready. And you want to be playing your best basketball because we also know that it can go the other way real quick. You want to keep building that momentum, but you realize you’re going to be in a dog fight or fist fight or rock fight every single night. This is what you prepare for.”

Tennessee will look to secure its first SEC Tournament Championship since 1979 and their fifth overall in program history just hours before the selection committee reveals their official March Madness bracket.