Rick Barnes 'so happy' for Tennessee football's bowl win

In one of the program’s most memorable seasons in recent memory, Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel led the Volunteers to the Orange Bowl, where they beat Clemson. Now, men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes expressed just how happy he is for the football program.

It was ahead of Tennessee’s game against Mississippi State where Barnes was asked about the bowl win, and how the different programs within the university support one another.

“It was just so exciting for not only Vol Nation,” Rick Barnes said. “But just so happy for Josh and his staff and just the entire university because the kind of year we had–just an unbelievable year.”

“To see it all come together with a great bowl win like that and the way we did it was really special.”

This season was Tennessee football’s first major bowl win since the 2004-05 Cotton Bowl. On top of that, it was the program’s first 11-win season since 2001. For just Heupel’s second season, this is a great thing to start to build on.

So far this season, the Volunteers basketball team is 11-2 and 1-0 in SEC play.

Rick Barnes’ initial thoughts on Mississippi State

Ahead of the game against Mississippi State, Barnes gave his initial thoughts on the Bulldogs and what is going to make them difficult to play.

“They know how they want to play,” Barnes said.

“Extremely well-coached. Change defenses, play really, really hard, switching. Really trying to make you think. The fact of the matter is they do a terrific job knowing exactly what they want on the offensive end and defensively, they do the things that good defensive teams do. They pressure, they will mix their defenses and they rebound the basketball.”

The game against Mississippi State will tip off at 7:00 P.M. EST on Tuesday. Like Tennessee, the Bulldogs hold an 11-2 record.