Rick Barnes: 'If I could coach making shots, I would do this until I'm 110'

For seven minutes Wednesday night, No. 4 Tennessee couldn’t miss. The Vols went from down 11 points against No. 15 Missouri, with the life sucked out of Food City Center, to tying the game and building a six-point lead in front of a suddenly roaring home crowd.

If those seven minutes — Tennessee scored 31 points during the torrid stretch from 18:42 to 11:42, after scoring just 28 in 20 minutes in the first half — could be stretched into 40 minutes, Rick Barnes would never retire.

In fact, he’d have at least 40 more years ahead of him on the Tennessee bench. 

“When the ball is going in,” Barnes said Wednesday night, “it all looks good. I mean, if I could coach making shots, I would do this until I’m 110. If I can live that long.”

Tennessee went from down 11 to leading by as many as 14, then held on for an 85-81 win. The Vols scored 57 points in the second half alone — more than their totals in two SEC games — after shooting 51.7% from the field on 29 attempts and making 6 of 10 from the 3-point line. 

“We’ve had games,” Barnes said, “where we look like a great basketball team scoring the ball.”

Tennessee moved up six spots in KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency

Then the Vols have had games like at Florida on January 7, when they scored 43 points, or at No. 1 Auburn two weeks ago, when they lost 53-51. They started 0-for-14 from the 3-point line in both losses.

“When that ball is going in, it looks good,” Barnes said. “And there’s some nights it goes in and you’re not even playing good, but it goes in.”

Tennessee (19-4, 6-4 SEC) moved up six spots in KenPom.com‘s adjusted offensive efficiency after the game, going from No. 40 to No. 34 while averaging 117.2 points per 100 possessions.  

The Vols trailed by as many as nine points after committing eight turnovers in a frustrating first half. Missouri built its lead to 11 in the first minute of the second half after Tennessee added two more turnovers out of halftime. 

Jahmai Mashack fouled Missouri’s Tony Perkins at the 3-point line with 19:03 left, with Perkins making two of three to put Mizzou up 39-28. 

Igor Milicic scored at the other end to start Tennessee’s 31-point outburst over the next seven minutes. After getting down 11, the Vols made seven of their next eight shots, 12 of their next 17 and went 6-for-8 at the 3-point line. 

Milicic got it back to a one-possession game at the 16:28 mark, Zakai Zeigler tied it with a three with 15:58 to go — capping a 15-4 run — and Jordan Gainey put Tennessee up for good with a three with 15:27 left.

The lead was six when Zeigler made another three with 11:42 left. It was a 10-point lead with 7:05 to go, after three Zeigler free throws, and 14 at the 4:30 mark, after a Felix Okpara three-point play. 

Milicic and Zeigler scored 21 each, Okpara had 12 and Gainey and Chaz Lanier scored 10 each. Tennessee shot an even 50.0% from the field for the game and went 10-for-15 the 3-point line just over a week removed from the 11-for-45 performance from three in the home loss to Kentucky. 

Rick Barnes: ‘What I want to see us do is make some of those shots around the rim’

Now Barnes is looking for more consistent shot-making inside the 3-point line. Tennessee was 8-for-20 on two-point attempts in the first half, 9-for-19 in the second half and missed 10 of 17 layups in the win.

“What I want to see us do is make some of those shots around the rim,” Barnes said. “Those are the ones we need to make. When you start doing that, (opposing defenses have to) loosen up. 

“… They’re just out there denying,” Barnes added of Missouri’s defense, “you’ve got to play basketball. There’s games where you can maybe run some offensive plays, and there are other games where you simply have to play basketball.

“And we showed them what we wanted. We didn’t execute in the first half. Again, Missouri had a lot to do with that. The second half we were better, but we made shots too.”