'I should be positive': Why Rick Barnes was so upbeat after No. 6 Tennessee's 53-51 loss at No. 1 Auburn

Rick Barnes sounded so upbeat and pointed out so many positives during his postgame press conference Saturday night at Neville Arena that the question had to be asked.

What made him so happy after No. 6 Tennessee’s 53-51 loss to No. 1 Auburn, with the Tigers hitting a gut-punch go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to bury the upset bid by the Vols.

“I should be positive,” Barnes said. “They fought hard all night long … were we perfect? No, we weren’t perfect.” 

Rick Barnes: ‘I told our guys … we can get so much better too. That’s what I learned’

Tennessee (17-3, 4-3 SEC) was far from perfect on offense, scoring just 51 points on 31.5% shooting from the field while going 4-for-22 from the 3-point line. But it was a defensive masterclass from the Vols — one of the toughest 40 minutes of defense in the Barnes era, 10 seasons that have been defined by being elite on that end of the floor. 

Tennessee, with its No. 1-ranked defense, held college basketball’s No. 1 offense to 53 points in its home gym, with Auburn shooting 30.5% from the field and going just 3-for-20 from the 3-point line.

“Those are some of the best guards we’re going to face,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said after the game. “Those guys don’t take possessions off defensively. Catches were difficult. Shots were contested.”

“Rick Barnes’ teams,” Pearl added, “play the right way … they don’t beat themselves. I think at the end of the game, both teams were exhausted. Absolutely exhausted. So who, through that exhaustion, could make a shot or maybe make a play?”

Auburn made the plays late, closing on a 6-0 run to erase a 51-47 deficit with two minutes left.

Barnes had no problem with the plays his team couldn’t make in the final minute. 

The Igor Milicic drive to the rim with 14 seconds left? Barnes had no problem with that kind of aggression, even if the possession came up empty. The Zakai Zeigler corner three with five seconds left? That was the look the Vols wanted out of the timeout, the shot just didn’t fall.

What critiques he did have were minor. Like Milicic going for a double-team that wasn’t called for or planned. 

“That’s just him wanting to win,” Barnes said, “wanting to make a play, but we got burnt on it. You can’t do that in those situations. And that’s, I think, lack of experience in games like this because when you’re in a possession game, you just can’t go and say, I’m going to go make something here. 

“Especially when (Auburn is) an older team. They know how to take advantage of those kinds of mistakes, which they did on that play. But that’s the things that we can get so much better with.”

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 9 Kentucky, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET

Tennessee being that close, dragging the No. 1 team in the country into the mud on the road, is what had Barnes so upbeat. After a frustrating 76-75 loss at Vanderbilt a week earlier — one filled with missed details and an all-too-ignored scouting report —  the Vols showed signs of growth with this kind of bounce-back performance away from home.

Even in a loss, Saturday night was a glimpse of just how high the ceiling can be for Tennessee.

“I love (this team),” Barnes said. “I told our guys, you know what, we can get so much better too. That’s what I learned … we battled a great basketball team and a team that is extremely well coached and I didn’t think the crowd affected us.

“ … I’m just proud of every guy. I just thought that we came in and battled the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Took it down to the last possession with a chance to win it.”