Rick Barnes looks back at Kentucky loss, previews No. 5 Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt

Everything Rick Barnes said before practice Friday afternoon at Food City Center, looking back at the 75-64 loss at Kentucky on Tuesday and previewing No. 5 Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt on Saturday (1 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network):

What Tennessee has to do better in its second game against Vanderbilt 

“Well, I think they’ve improved. I’d like to think we’ve improved too. I thought they really did a good job in their ball-screen offense. I didn’t think we were great at it, but they had a lot to do with that. And I’d also like to see us shoot the ball better. I think that’s important. At some point in time we’re going to have to make shots. But even with that, we’ve proven that we can hang in there and hopefully make enough to get it done when it needs to get done. But I’m impressed with Mark (Byington) and what he’s done with his group. They’ve been right here all year with everyone and he’s done a great job.”

Cade Phillips saying after the Kentucky game on Tuesday that Tennessee had breakdowns with the scouting report, how to fix that

“Well, that’s what we addressed yesterday when we went back to scrub it out. Just how can we, at this point in time, especially in the last four minutes with key guys on the court, just simple, you know, personnel breakdown, where at that point in time when the game is really in the balance, you can’t have those mental lapses, and we did. And the answer is always, ‘I don’t know.’ Well, you have to know. And it’s focus, whether you’re letting other things creep in at that point in time that you’re not allowing yourself to stay focused on that particular possession. And so my question is, where is your mind at that point in time? Because it’s just breakdowns that you really can’t have in those critical situations.”

If there’s still a learning curve in those situations for Tennessee’s transfers

“No doubt. I don’t think there’s any question that guys are learning that the difference, and there is a difference level. And that’s not to be negative about any level. But you’re out there, I think the talent level in this league is obviously extremely close because of all you got to do is look at how every game is played. And I do think being able to mentally stay with it for 40 minutes and know that when you get down to those last four minutes — we haven’t even, if you go back, I don’t think our starts have been that great, especially offensively. Defensively, good. But I do think the fact is that for guys that are at this level for the first time, there’s a learning curve. They’re learning that it’s difficult to finish.” 

What he meant after the Kentucky game when he said Tennessee players were too emotional in the closing minutes

“Well, we have certain players that we want to go after and we had chances in that game to (go after them). And we had situations that we could have driven the ball and we settled for threes when the lane is wide open. And we should have taken advantage of that. And that was part of our scouting report. So I think when guys who you know, I know we got a group of guys that really want to win, but when they’re not seeing the game as it’s unfolding like that. It is part of the learning curve. You’d like to think that, hey, here’s a guy that just like we know how we want to guard guys defensively, there are guys on offense that we know, if we can get them at the right space on the court, that we want to attack. And the fact that we didn’t do that two or three times was disappointing. And you hope from the failure that we learn from them.”

Saying sometimes they don’t know what Igor Milicic is doing on offense, how they snap him out of that

“All he’s got to do is play at a speed where, because he can pass the ball, he can shoot the ball, he can handle the ball, he can do all that. It’s when he allows himself to get, and I think he speeds himself up. I think he gets anxious and I told him that I think he’s just got to slow down because, I mean he impacts the game in so many different ways, but again, you get caught up in games, players do it. And it’s not just Igor. I’ve seen other guys the other night do it. Guys that have been in those situations where they lost focus of what their job is at that point in time. But he’s a guy that when he’s playing the pace that we want him to, I mean, he’s a real playmaker. He can do a lot of things, but again, he’s playing against a level of competition that he hasn’t played against consistently for the last two months, two and a half months. I just think he’s got a chance to just really finish strong and get so much better these next couple weeks.”

If there’s a direct correlation between guys speeding up and Tennessee’s turnover issues

“No doubt. Because when you’re sped up, and I can tell you there’s times when it’s not anyone speeding us up other than ourselves. And it’s whether it’s being anxious, whether it’s understanding that— there’s a lot of things that we could talk about, but the fact is, it’s staying within the moment, playing that possession and letting if you made a mistake, and I think what happens, because we’ve got some guys that really truly want to win at the highest level, they want to make it up and you don’t have to make it up, you just gotta play that next possession, you know, so the one before it didn’t go well, you might have done something that you felt like that wasn’t right. You got to let that go, get onto the next play. And oftentimes players will think, I’ve gotta go make something happen right now. And normally when that’s the mindset, it doesn’t normally turn out very well.”

Tennessee’s perimeter shooting

“I mean, I’ve said it before, if I could coach one thing we’d never miss. I promise you we’d never miss. And that’s what makes the game what it is. And again, I can go back and we had quality looks. I can’t explain to you why some nights, but again, it is the game. I’ve seen the very best of the best go through shootings slumps. But when they go through it, you got to continue to take your shots. That’s all we ask these guys to do. Shoot the shots on our terms. If we do that, we’re going to live with the results. And it’s when guys I think are missing shots and they start pressing. Again, it goes back to saying, ‘okay, I missed that one, I got to make the next one.’ If that’s your mindset, you just continue to put more and more pressure on you. I just want guys, again, do what we do, play the way we talk about playing, and when you’re open, you’ve got to shoot the ball. If it goes in, it goes in and if not, we are hoping that we can get, not the majority, but a lot of our misses, which we’ve done sometimes really well, sometimes not, but we don’t want him hesitating when the shots come on our terms.” 

His message to Tennessee fifth-year guard Darlinstone Dubar right now

“I think the biggest message to him is that he doesn’t have to make a three-point shot to stay in the game. That’s the message. He’s got so many other things he can do, but he’s a player that I think he can shoot the ball at a high percentage. But if you’re going into the game thinking that’s the only way you’re gonna impact the game, if it goes in, it goes in. If it don’t, it don’t. We can’t be thinking, okay, is he gonna try another one or whatever. We just want him to play and play within the flow of the team, what we’re trying to do. When he’s open with the shots that we talk about, we want him to take them and we think he’ll make a high percentage of it.

“But I think, again, when guys go in the game thinking that their number one thing is I’ve gotta make a shot to stay in the game, I promise you it never works. It will never work because even if they’re a good percentage shooter, and I mean, I had a recruit one time ask me if I make three straight threes, but get scored on three straight times, would you take me outta the game? I said, it depends on how it happens. And that’s the same way when the players go in the game. If they’re scoring points, but they’re giving up plays that you can’t give up, somewhere you gotta say, okay, which way’s gonna win the game for us.”

The work ethic of Tennessee walk-on guard Grant Hurst

“Grant’s been a great addition to our team. The guys love him. They appreciate the fact that it’s not easy when you come in every day, and our walk-ons know that they’re not going to play, probably very little at all. But the fact that Grant has come in, I think the fact that his teammates respect him so much, speaks values about him. I’m glad he’s part of our program. Our entire coaching staff is because he’s got a great personality. I think he’s a guy that can influence players, whether he’s playing or not, which is really a compliment to him. Players respect him. They know that he wants to win. They know that he wants to help them get better so they can go out and perform at a high level. But he’s been a really good contribution to our basketball program.”