What Rick Barnes said about No. 1 Tennessee's win over MTSU, Cam Carr leaving Vols

Everything head coach Rick Barnes said after No. 1 Tennessee rallied from down six points at halftime to beat Middle Tennessee State 82-64 Monday night at Food City Center:

What he learned about this Tennessee team in the second half

“Well, first of all, I knew we were ready to play because it’s obvious. I mean, I just have tremendous respect for Nick (McDevitt). I think he’s one of the most underrated coaches in college basketball, one of the best kept secrets. Known him for a long time. Knew his team was going to come in. They had good size and drive the ball well. Knew that was going to happen. Knew they had the ability to make some threes. And so our guys knew it, and I thought we had a good week of prep to get ready. Started of the game, they did what I thought they would do it. I think we’re up eight, missed a couple of layups that we need to make, and then we turned it over four or five times in a row. Changed the whole momentum of the game in the first half. But thought at halftime we were locked in and came out and obviously played a lot better. But I told them, I said, this won’t be the last time we would be behind at halftime. Good for us, and let’s see if we can handle it. I thought they did a good job coming out and doing that.” 

Zakai Zeigler’s career-high 15 assists, how well he’s playing at point guard

“Well, he is. I told him that I’d rather him have 19 (assists) and no turnovers. But he’s so competitive. He’s just so competitive. He did a good job. We felt we could get some of those over-the-tops. And he wants to do that. And if we ever get post guys consistently running to the rim, they can do that. He’ll be willing to do that. And when we put the shooters out there, it does open up the court. They made some, I think, terrific, in-game adjustments, where they were in the gaps, they were in the gaps. And we went to a side-ball screen early. Got a couple there, they actually turned Zakai over there one time, where I thought he tried to do a little bit too much with it. They jumped out there almost like a hard double team. Just the way he just disrupts everything, even defensively. But when he’s moving the ball like that, he’s starting to really understand his teammates. I think the more that he’s out there, he and Chaz are starting to get a little bit more of a connection to it. And he and Jordan have one. And when we go to that small lineup, Shack (Jahmai Mashack) gives us a chance to play so many different ways. But really happy with D-Stone (Darlinstone Dubar) tonight. He didn’t get in the second half just because of the flow of the game, the matchups, everything we had to go with. And I just know that Igor (Milicic) and Felix (Okpara) nd Cade (Phillips) and D-Stone are really going to be a big part of us going forward. And I tell them every day they’ve got to get better, but we all got to get better.” 

On if they had any discussions about it

“No. He just walked out.”

If there’s any advantages to leaving mid season

“No. Not really. I think they probably didn’t understand the rule. I don’t know that but that is what I would assume. We were obviously counting on him being part of the team. Surprised his teammates. They were very disappointed. So from here on, there is nothing to really talk about. He made his decision. No reason. It’s baffling to be quite honest with you.” 

Hoping to have Cam Carr in the rotation after returning from the injury, where they go from here

“He was going to have to earn his way back. We talked about that this week with everybody because we wanted everybody to do it. But Bishop has made great strides. I mean, think about it. We would have had 10 guys here, and we expected that we could use all 10 guys. Bishop is somebody that, like Bishop would be terrific in this game tonight if he would have been able to play. He’s made great strides, and I hate it for them, but he’ll come back stronger. His mental toughness and just his competitive spirit is something that, again, it’s going to serve him well. He’s a loyal kid. He wants to get it done and he’ll come back strong. There is no doubt that Bishop is going to come back and be a big part of it.”

What makes MTSU a dangerous team

“One, it just starts with Nick and his staff, but  I meant what I said. I’ve known Nick for a long time, and I know a lot about him. I know what he’s about. I think he’s just a terrific basketball coach. I think he’s got high standards. I think he understands how to build teams, rosters. He’s done that well. I think he knows the kind of guys he wants to have. And when he gets it together, he puts them in the best position for them to be successful. They’ve gotten better and better and a game like this will help him just like it helped us. They’ll see that what they’ve gotta do to make them take the next step, and we’ll have to do the same thing. You learn something every game. Impressed with his players. I thought they were poised. I thought they got some older guys. They’ve been in games. And, again, I just got so much respect for him and the way he has done things everywhere he has ever been.”

His message to the team when Tennessee was down six at halftime

“What I just said a little bit ago. We were up eight. Had a chance to stretch the lead and missed layups and turned it over. Let them get momentum. Let them get comfortable. We missed a layup and they hit a three in transition. Plays like that can flip the momentum real quick. I didn’t think we ever lost our poise. I didn’t think that, but it was good for us. Honestly, do you wanna come out and get 20 in the first half, 25? From a stress standpoint, probably. But, overall, you look at it the way it played out, it was probably a much better situation for us because they’ve got SEC size. They’ve got guys who drive the ball hard. Guys who finish well, and we’re going to have to defend that all year. Just great respect for the way they approach coming in. Their game plan. I’m really proud of our guys. I thought that the plays we needed to make, I thought we started making a little more plays defensively at the rim and rebounding the ball. 

We got out and transitioned some. But it’s a hard fought game, and that’s what we expected coming in.”

If Tennessee, with only nine healthy scholarship players available after Cam Carr’s decision, will consider adding someone to the roster

“I don’t know. We haven’t thought a lot about it. I’m sure we will over the next couple of days, talk about some things. We have pretty much played eight or nine guys all year, right? Pretty much. I tell everybody, back when I first got into coaching, you ask questions trying to learn all I could about this game and talking to some of the old legendary guys. They always told me, ‘you want to play six, maybe seven, eight only if you have to.’ To build that rotation. One of the greatest at it was Bobby Cremins. He’d do it every year. Lou Carnesecca, those guys did it. Every year is different, but every guy we have right now, we’re expecting them to be a big part — I’m really impressed with D-Stone the last week. He’s really made some great strides. We continue to try and use him at multiple positions, but defensively, he’s really had a great week this past week. We’re getting better and we plan on doing that.”

If he’s thinking throughout a season that he needs to get this guy or that guy minutes in order to keep them happy

“To be honest with you I am not surprised. It didn’t surprise me. I actually made that comment to the coaches. That’s all I can tell you. Are you asking if we think about it? We think about it all the time. We are around these guys all the time. We know when guys are locked in and when they’re not. We know guys. We know these guys like the back of our hand. They talk. We talk. If you ask me, I was not the least bit surprised.”

How to not worry about roster movement throughout the course of a season

“It’s like Jahmai Mashack and Zakai Zeigler said a year ago when we lost some guys. They said plain and clear, ‘if they don’t want to be here then we don’t want them here.’ We want guys that want to be here and guys that really care about being part of the team. They said that. That’s how I think we all feel.”

When he expects Bishop Boswell to return

“I just talked to him a little bit. He’s been working really hard with his rehab, and we’re hoping maybe (when he) comes back from Christmas. I know he’ll do everything he needs to do while he’s there to rehab it and do that. He said he’s feeling better, but like I said, we’re playing the long game with him. We know we’re going to need him and once we get into SEC play, it’s really up to him once he gets comfortable.”