Tennessee Basketball: Rick Barnes, Vols preview Battle 4 Atlantis

What head coach Rick Barnes and Tennessee seniors Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi said Tuesday while previewing the Battle 4 Atlantis and Wednesday’s game against Butler (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) on Paradise Island in the Bahamas:

OPENING STATEMENT

Rick Barnes: “We appreciate the opportunity to be here. We realize it’s a great field here as always. I think it’s a tournament that players really look forward to being part of. We’re here and we’re just looking forward to having three days of basketball. And hoping we can win some basketball games.”

THE AREA WHERE TENNESSEE NEEDS TO IMPROVE THE MOST

Santiago Vescovi: “What we have to get better as a team right now that we’ve been working on is knowing when to shoot and get the ball in the post. We’ve been working on getting Olivier and Uros and all those guys the ball more inside. They’ve been doing a good job and the guards getting it inside. That was a thing in the Florida Gulf Coast game where you could see we didn’t shoot as many three’s as we’ve been shooting in the past even though we were making it at a pretty good clip that game. Just trying to throw it inside is going to be a pretty big part of our game in the future and help us a lot, so that’s one of our main focuses right now.”

Josiah-Jordan James: “Just hanging our hat on playing inside-and-out. I think defensively, we have to take more steps, and it’s a small sample size, we’re still learning how to play with each other, but just being able to hang our hat on the defensive end. So I’d say playing inside-and-out and being able to be a really good defensive team is where we need to improve.”

Barnes: “I would say the fact that we do have a group of guys that want to be a good basketball team and they recognize that we’ve still got work to do. We had a good closed scrimmage and an exhibition game, and then we learned a valuable lesson that the mental part of this game is extremely important and if you let that down just a little bit, there’s no one on our schedule that can’t beat us. But our practices have been good and our guys know we have to get better that they talked about. Just knowing how we have to play as a team, but also the details that go into that both offensively and defensively. We’ve still got some guys that are trying to figure out certain things that they need to do, but we’re looking for consistency probably as much as anything and knowing what we’re going to be able to get night in and night out. We think we have a team we know we’re capable of shooting the ball, but if not, we’ve got to be able to find other ways to manufacture points which we can do that with what we can do inside. There’s a balance that we’re trying to get offensively. As (Josiah) mentioned, defensively, that’s where we have to hang our hat every night. We’re getting there, but we’re not there yet.”

Rick Barnes on Battle 4 Atlantis: ‘I do think we’re going to find out a lot here’

HOW PLAYING THREE GAMES IN THREE DAYS CAN HELP THIS TENNESSEE TEAM

Barnes: “I think right now, too, getting to play three games here, it seems like we’ve had a game, week off, had a game. The fact that you get three games, I do think we’re going to find out a lot here, with the fact that it’s going to be back-to-back-to-back. With Tyreke coming in, he’s been a terrific addition to our program. But it’s new for him. He hasn’t played in a year and a half, before he got started here with us. I think each time he gets going out, it’s going to help him. He’s been a great teammate with our guys. He’s a versatile player. He needs to play with these guys. Same with Julian Phillip. We need to continue to get him worked in there. Having Olivier (Nkamhoua) back, we lost him at the end of January last year. So those three guys, again, this should be a great week for all of us, but I think for those three guys, it could be really beneficial in the fact that they can get the reps they need to get.”

HOW THEY LOOK TO BUILD A TEAM IN THE ERA OF THE TRANSFER PORTAL

Barnes: “I think we know how we like to do it. We very much believe in our player development program. We feel like we want to get guys that fit what we’re looking for. Tyreke Key is a guy that, when we’ve gone into the transfer portal in the past, I think we’ve done well with it because I think we’ve been really diligent about knowing exactly what we’re looking for. And Tyreke is a terrific addition to our team. But that’s still, we’re not at the point where we want to build our program through the transfer portal. We’re not at that point. But it’s there. And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. I’m not saying that. I just think we know how we like what we have right now. We feel like we have an older group of guys. We’d like to stay old. But what does that mean? I don’t know. At the end of every year, when guys don’t play, you’re always concerned about them thinking I can go somewhere else and play. But we’re big into player development, we really are. We just think if guys will buy into what we’re doing, their time is going to come. It comes sooner for some than others. But the fact is, you almost are looking at things through a two-year window right now. Even in the recruiting process, when you’re recruiting someone, you’re thinking they’ve got to be ready to help us within two years. In our situation, most of those guy are able to do that.”

IF HE EXPECTS UROS PLAVSIC TO BE BACK FOR THE BUTLER GAME, WHAT HE NEEDS TO SEE MORE FROM THE POST GUYS OFFENSIVELY

Barnes: “Yeah, he’ll be back. We’re getting ready to work out here in a little it. He’s only had one workout since the game at Colorado when he turned his ankle. But he’ll be back here. He’ll go today … I think our post guys, the more they can touch the ball, at certain times I think it will help all of them do that. But what we need to see out of those guys more consistently than anything is the fact that we know defensively they’re going to do their job and rebound the basketball. When it comes in there, we expect them to make good plays. And we do need them to score some. There’s no doubt about that. But Josiah (Jordan James) mentioned it, the more they get it, the more I think they’ll know how to make the right read. Because there are going to be games, and there already has, where Colorado went to a double team against them because we were able to post guys. We do have guys that can score it. So it goes back to consistency. What can we get night in and night out and know what we’re going to get night in and night out. And what we need is the great defensive effort, guys that will run the floor, do their job that way, and rebound the basketball on both ends.”

ON WHAT JULIAN PHILLIPS’ NEXT STEP TO BE

Barnes: “With Julian, I think the biggest thing is still understanding the speed and how quick he is going to have to move. How quick he is going to have to move both offense and defense. Those gaps, he is a guy that can drive the ball, but as you know those gaps close quick. Defensively, not ball-watching. Doing his work early, anticipating and getting himself in position with his work early. Still the speed of the game. As I mentioned before, I expect him to get better every time he goes out to understand that it is only going to get more difficult. It is not going to get any easier. Julian has done a good job. He has up to this point. We haven’t seen him be everything we know he can be. Again, it is not because of him not wanting to do it. Just a matter of it is a whole new experience for him. He learns something every time he goes out.”

Up Next: No. 22 Tennessee vs. Butler, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2

NEUTRAL-SITE ENVIRONMENT GAMES

Barnes: “I think the fact is they know everybody can play because everybody can play. You talk about the transfer portal, there are teams like Thad (Matta), he is a terrific coach. He has been around a long time. If you look at his team in particular, they play hard. They are aggressive. They get their hands on a lot of basketball, get heavy in the gaps. Solid teams like the teams I have coached (against) through the years. In a short time, he has put together a program, these guys have proven they can play. Everybody can play. I think that is what the older guys here would tell you, they were disappointed in the fact that we could let an opportunity get away from us. It did. If we don’t learn from it, it is shame on us. We have to know we have to be ready to go play every single night. We are not good enough that we can not come out with the attitude that we are going to have to fight for everything that we need to get.”

HIS PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH THAD MATTA AND SEEING MATTA BACK IN COACHING

Barnes: “I do know Thad. We have coached against each other. Thad is a terrific coach. He is an extremely sound (coach). There is nothing he is going to try to do to trick you. He is going to line up. He is going to guard you. He is going to be extremely sound fundamentally on both sides. Pass the ball. Shoot the ball. Play inside-out. Good balance. Aggressive. They look to attack, create offense with their defense. I think again that is how I would think about his teams. I think the fact he is working for a terrific AD in Barry Collier. I coached against Barry years ago when he was at Nebraska. I am not surprised because I know Thad loves the game. You are away from it and you have a chance to come back to a place and work for a guy you know well. I understand it totally. There is no question he is going to do a terrific job because he is at a place he believes in and he is working for a guy that believes in what he is trying to get done, what they want to get done there. Being in the Big East now is only going to help him recruit the kind of players he needs to recruit to play at the highest level and compete night in and night out, which he has done everywhere he has ever been.”