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Rick Barnes still figuring things out after Tennessee SEC Tournament victory over Ole Miss

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•03/09/23•

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(Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes liked the way the Volunteers finished a win over Ole Miss, but the team still needed to figure things out.

Without the injured Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee turned it over quite a bit but eventually cruised to a 70-55 victory over the Rebels. With superior shooting, Tennessee found itself in the SEC quarterfinals scheduled for Friday.

Barnes talked about how Tennessee adjusted throughout the game and ended up with a victory.

“I think we need to play obviously, we’re still figuring out how to do it a little bit without Zakai (Zeigler),” Barnes said to ESPN’s Marty Smith on the broadcast. “Turned the ball over, too many ridiculous plays and I didn’t think we came out with the aggression that we wanted with our defense. We picked it up and did a better job, you know, we wanted to get going …

“We got better (in the paint). Obviously (Ole Miss) played last night, maybe fatigue had a little bit to do with it but we got to get better and better. I like to fight, the fact that we did a lot of good things and we just can’t turn it over the way we did.”

Smith asked Barnes how critical the depth was in the win over the Rebels.

“​​Well, it’s important,” Barnes said. “We’ve always, all year long, had different guys at different times step up and do some good things for us and we’re gonna need them all. You know, we’re gonna name the game, whatever that personality takes. We had to find a way to get things done.”

The two teams battled back and forth quite a bit, with neither team able to build more than a six-point lead in the half. The Rebels led early in the first half, but the Volunteers built a six-point lead late with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Josiah-Jordan James to make it 39-33 at the half.

Tennessee quickly extended its lead to double-digits in the second half as superior shooting took over. James and fellow backcourt mate Santiago Vescovi led the charge in an eventual 70-55 Tennessee win, scoring 20 and 13 respectively.

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Tennessee takes on Missouri Friday at 3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.