What Rick Barnes told Jonas Aidoo after his return to Tennessee
Tennessee fans welcomed Jonas Aidoo back to Knoxville by booing him when he came out of the tunnel at Food City Center for pregame warmups. And again when he was introduced in the Arkansas starting lineup. And again and again and again during the game any time Aidoo touched the ball.
Head coach Rick Barnes took a different route after No. 1 Tennessee’s 76-52 dismantling of No. 23 Arkansas in the SEC opener Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.
When Barnes went through the handshake line, Aidoo’s former head coach told him he loved him.
“When I shook his hand, I hugged him,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference. “I said, ‘Jonas, I love you,’ and I do love him because — he found a situation that was really hard for him to turn down, and he did it.”
Rick Barnes on Jonas Aidoo: ‘He did a lot for us while he was here’
Aidoo was one of four Tennessee players that entered the NCAA Transfer Portal last April, after the Vols made a run to the Elite Eight. His departure was the biggest surprise of the group, which also included sophomore power forward Tobe Awaka (Arizona) and redshirt freshmen guards Freddie Dilione V (Penn State) and DJ Jefferson (Longwood).
Aidoo was coming off a breakout junior season at Tennessee, named Second Team All-SEC and to the SEC’s All-Defensive team. He averaged career-highs in scoring (11.4 points per game), rebounding (7.3), defensive rebounds (4.5), offensive rebounds (2.8), blocks (1.8), steals (0.7) and minutes (25.4).
But after three seasons with the Vols — he signed with Tennessee as a four-star, top-40 recruit in the 2021 class — he announced he was entering his name in the NBA Draft while also entering the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Three weeks later he landed at Arkansas with new Razorback head coach John Calipari.
“I had no problem with it,” Barnes said of Aidoo’s transfer decision, “but I think it was hard. I mean, he did a lot for us while he was here. But I wish him nothing but the best.”
Barnes added that he would say the same for Cameron Carr, the sophomore wing who abruptly left the Tennessee program on December 23, seeking a transfer of his own after missing the last month with a thumb injury.
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“Jahmai Mashack said it best,” Barnes said. “He said, all we can do is pray for them and wish them the best, and we’ve got to take care of our business here and keep moving. And that’s what we’ve done.”
Jonas Aidoo vs. Tennessee: 4 points, 5 rebounds in 29 minutes
Aidoo finished with four points and five rebounds in 29 minutes on Saturday, going 2-for-3 from the field, 0-for-1 from the 3-point line and 0-for-2 from the foul line against his old team. He had no points, no rebounds and two fouls in 11 minutes in the first half.
Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler after the game said he couldn’t remember anything he said to Aidoo during the game, describing it simply as talk in the heat of the moment.
What he did say is there’s still a bond between the two after spending three years as teammates.
“Basketball brought me and him closer as friends, and if it wasn’t for basketball, I wouldn’t have ever known Jonas,” Zeigler said. “So outside of this, that’s still my brother.”
But that doesn’t mean Zeigler wasn’t going to deliver some postgame jabs.
“When we’re on the court between the lines,” he said, “I don’t know him and he don’t know me. It was a good time seeing the scoreboard at the end of the game, him being on the other team. That’s still my brother at the end of the day.”
