Rick Barnes reveals what Jonas Aidoo gave Tennessee against Alabama

Tennessee pulled off a major upset of No. 1 Alabama on Wednesday night and coach Rick Barnes was asked afterward what big man Jonas Aidoo gave the Volunteers on defense.

Barnes credited his entire lineup, but specifically discussed what they did against the Crimson Tide.

“Defensively we told our guys before the game that every player they put on the floor is a guard,” Barnes explained. “We’ve been working on it for a month with our post guys. We start every shell drill with our post guys guarding guards. We said, ‘You guys are going to have to learn to not just run back to the lane and work your way out, but we need to get you guys involved in transition because there’s cross-matches and things going on.'”

Alabama was clearly out of sync, with the Crimson Tide turning it over a whopping 19 times in the game, just two shy of their season high.

Barnes has had his players preparing for a game like that for quite some time.

“I said, ‘We’ve got to all learn to guard anybody for one possession in transition,'” he said. “Tonight I thought, for the most part, again we had a couple early where they were back, and I’m talking a foot, I mean that’s all a team like Alabama needs to get a look with guys that can shoot the ball.”

Jonas Aido was a big part of that. He had four fouls in the contest, but he also came up with one steal and three blocked shots. Defensively Tennessee was terrific, holding Alabama to just 59 points in the loss.

Barnes was thrilled with the work Jonas Aidoo and the rest of the Tennessee squad put in defensively.

“I think our post guys’ defense was outstanding too, pushing out there,” Barnes said. “Now when both teams look at the end, you guys saw it, they’re all trying to get downhill, trying to drive, trying to create something to get to the free throw line. But again, just everyone defensively I thought stayed locked into what we needed to do on the defensive end.”