What Rick Barnes said about Tennessee's draw as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament

NASHVILLE — What Rick Barnes said Sunday night in Nashville after Tennessee was given a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Region, facing No. 15 Wofford on Thursday at Rupp Arena in Lexington:

His thoughts on Tennessee’s draw in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region

“Well, to be quite honest, I didn’t look at it that close. Again, I’ve said it every year, you don’t ever take it for granted. And the fact that I think this team has worked really hard to put themselves in a position to get where we are right now. And obviously we know what every game is about this tournament, but we’re just proud of this group because we’ve only had two guys that have really experienced that and the three guys that really experienced it. And so I’m excited for them. And we’ll look at as it’s a four-team tournament, when you break it down. And that’s what we got to get ready for. 

“Obviously Wofford, got a lot of respect for the program, that university. And then we’ll try to get that we get to the next one. So it’s four teams going together in a weekend tournament.”

Playing close to home at Rupp Arena in Lexington

“Yeah, I am excited for our fanbase, because we talk about Vol Nation being the very best, which it is. So that part is really, really good. I didn’t (look). What day is it? Thursday? So we’ll get ready to get back tonight and get ready to go.” 

If he prefers playing on Thursday or Friday in the first round  

“Well, it is what it is. Again, I know with so many teams in our league, I don’t think anybody wanted to match up with another SEC team in the second round, which is obviously a possibility if you’ve only played somebody once. But again, it is what it is. And really after today, I’m really excited to get back out and play. When you have a tough loss, you’re always wanting to get back out and go again. And so hopefully it works our way.” 

If there’s an advantage to playing in Rupp Arena due to familiarity

“Again, I don’t know. I think that when you get there, again, it’ll be an easy travel trip for us. We obviously, we do it once a year, but we’ve been there, but I don’t know if this time of year if that matters.”

If he leaves Nashville feeling better about his Tennessee team

“I mean I’ve felt good about this team. Again, the one thing we didn’t do today, it was our main point of emphasis, was we knew we were about to be physical on the glass (and) we weren’t. Again, we’ve proven it, we can do it in the past. We’ve got to get back and now everybody, everybody’s got to do it. And we all know that, but I’m proud of what they did this weekend. It was hard. It’s always hard when you’re playing a semifinal game when it’s hard fought. Like our game was, it reminded me a couple years ago back when we had a game like that against Kentucky and then you got to turn around quick against the, obviously an outstanding team. 

“Back then it was Auburn. And today, I mean, Florida’s playing great basketball, I’ll tell you. But we felt going in it would be a two three possession game. And again, taking away nothing from them because they won the game. They deserve to win the game when you crush them on the boards. Looks like they did us, but we just made some mistakes that we, that you really can’t make.”

What excites him most about this Tennessee team

“The way we’ve responded all year. We got a group that really cares. They work hard. They prepared well, got good leadership, we got a lot of great things going and we just got to go out and we got to get everybody, everybody doing their job.”

What he says to Igor Milicic Jr to try and get him out of his slump

“Well I think the key is rebounding. I mean, back when we were really, you know, moving pretty good, he was getting big time rebounds and he’s gotta get back to that. He does D-Stone, Cade and he and Felix, those guys, I mean that’s a big part of the job they have to do. 

“And I realize today that some ways you give away a little bit of height a little bit, but still we’ve proven that we can do it and that’s, rebounding is such an important thing and after we harp on it as much as we do to get beat like we did today is disappointing. But that’s gonna be a major factor going forward.”

How much he wants Tennessee to do well in the NCAA Tournament for his senior class

“For Zakai and Jahmai, who’s been with us forever, and obviously Jordan Gainey a year ago, has got tournament experience. For these guys, I love this team. I wanna play for a long time with ’em because three of ’em won’t be back that we’ve been with, and then you throw in Igor (Milicic Jr.), D-Stone (Darlinstone Dubar). Seniors don’t get a chance to come back and do it. I really wanna do well for those guys and I know they want to do well.”

If it ever gets old seeing his team’s name pop up on the screen during the selection show

“No, it will never get old because I know how hard it is to get to the tournament. People don’t realize it. I mean, it’s so hard and that’s why you go back to the non-league, your body of work and you’ve gotta do it early and everybody’s always coming up, coming down at the end. If you don’t do the job in November, December, you can put yourself in a real hole, but especially in the league we’re in.

“But you don’t ever take it for granted. I’ve said it before, I thank the good Lord, for the blessing of being at Tennessee and these opportunities, because there are thousands of people who would love to have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament, and would love to be where we are even after a loss. Believe me, there’s a lot of teams that would like to be sitting in that locker room today, a lot of people. We’re blessed and I just want us to, when it’s all said and done, to know that we maxed out. That we gave it our best effort and we didn’t hold nothing back.”

What he knows about Wofford

“Not much, other than the fact that through the years, knew the coaches that were there and they’ve got a winning tradition. That’s what I do know. I have respect for that league and it goes back to what I told the guys after the game today. We’re gonna play a team that’s got guys like Chaz Lanier and Jordan Ganey. We go back to our team with D-Stone, Igor. (It’s) the level that we got those guys from basically. And so we’ve got great respect for every team that we play. You’ve gotta be ready. They wouldn’t be — anybody playing right now has to be playing good basketball to get in and punch their ticket. So it’s about, not only respect for yourself, but for your opponents. You’ve gotta be ready to go.”