Rick Barnes stresses importance of handling lesser competition

The early, non-conference portion of your schedule is no less important than your primetime games. The massive matchups may be what bolsters your resume but, for the most part, the extra, smaller games are what make up the majority of your slate. They’re also a vital opportunity to build your team in the season, which is what Rick Barnes is focused on with Tennessee.

Barnes shared how crucial he finds contests versus smaller schools in his press conference following the Volunteer’s 76-40 win over McNeese State on Wednesday night. He said it allows them to vet candidates for their rotation by seeing who plays the right way. In Barnes’ system, that means finding players who will dig in defensively.

“This was a big week…We just kept talking about how valuable these minutes are right now. They better show us they can guard on the defensive end,” said Barnes. “We were not concerned about none of their offense right now. We wanted to see if you’re in tune with what we’re trying to get done defensively.”

Regardless of their opponent, the Vols haven’t had any problems with their defense to this point. Tennessee is Top-10 in both points allowed and defensive rating to start the year. Besides a loss to Colorado in their second game of the season and an overtime win over USC, they’ve held their other five opponents to 50 points or loss too. That includes both Butler as well as the reigning champion Kansas Jayhawks in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Tennessee has four more games before SEC play starts. One of those games is a matchup in the Hall of Fame Invitational against Top-25 Maryland. Another of the four is a trip out west to face off with No. 4 Arizona in Tucson. If they want to be prepared for those games, though, Barnes will want to see the same focus in their next game against Alcorn State as he hopes they’ll show on their upcoming ranked road trip.

“I think these games are important for a lot of reasons. I think they’re important to see what kind of consistency we can start developing as a team,” Barnes said. “Again, our message for the game was are we mentally tough enough to raise our standards within ourselves? Can we look at ourselves and say, ‘how can we get better?’ regardless of who we’re playing?”

Barnes will not allow his team to overlook any opponent. That’s why they’ve shown all seven teams they’ve faced this season the same respect that they showed the last. It’s also the a mindset that can separate the good teams and the great ones as Tennessee’s season ramps up.