Rick Barnes reacts to Texas A&M fans chanting 'overrated' at Tennessee

The Texas A&M faithful showed up in droves to watch the Aggies defeat No. 6 Tennessee 85-69 on Saturday. As fans watched the final seconds tick off the clock, a battle cry rang through the stands: “Overrated.” After the game, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes addressed the fans’ accusation.

“I think someone should teach ’em about overrated because I think it takes away from your win,” Barnes said. “They’re a good basketball team. When you start chanting overrated, you’re diminishing the fact that their team just played a heck of a basketball game and beat a good team.

“If we’re overrated, what does that say about their team? But they’ve been doing that for, how long ago I’ve been coming here? Twenty-five years. So, maybe you should write it and tell them.”

Whether or not Texas A&M fans were correct, they were loud. Reed Arena saw an above capacity crowd of 12,995 on Saturday for the game. Their dedication to the Aggies paid dividends.

In the loss, Tennessee shot 23-62 (37.1%) from the field and 8-29 (27.6%) from beyond the arc. Additionally, the Volunteers connected on a mere 15-25 (60%) from the charity stripe. For reference, Tennessee is shooting 44.9% from the field and 34.2% from deep this season.

Rick Barnes compliments Texas A&M

Despite Tennessee’s poor shooting, Barnes doesn’t believe Texas A&M’s crowd was “overwhelming” for his team.

“It was fine. I mean I’ve been here a lot and I don’t think it’s overwhelming if that’s what you’re asking,” Barnes said. “I don’t think there’s many arenas in the country that I would say are overwhelming. I’ve got a lot of respect for A&M.”

With the loss, Tennessee dropped to fourth place in the SEC standings. Meanwhile, Texas A&M moved up a spot, now tied with Florida and Kentucky for fifth place in the conference. After the game, a reporter asked Barnes if Texas A&M is an NCAA Tournament team.

“No doubt,” Barnes said. “I think we got 10 right now, 10, 11 teams that when it’s all said and done are NCAA teams. I think we got the best basketball league in the country. And I don’t think it’s close. I don’t care what anybody says.

“Right now the SEC’s the best basketball league in the country and every league’s tough. It is, every league is tough, but, like I said, there’s a case for nine or 10 teams right now, and there’s a lot of basketball at the place. It’ll work out. It’ll show itself in the end.”