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Rick Barnes benched Santiago Vescovi at North Carolina for two reasons

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•12/02/23•

GrantRamey

Tennessee G Santiago Vescovi
Andrew Ferguson | Tennessee Athletics

As the second half played out Wednesday night at the Dean Smith Center, as Tennessee kept chipping away a North Carolina lead that was once as large as 24 points, Santiago Vescovi didn’t move.

Instead, the fifth-year senior guard sat on the bench, still wearing the warmup shirt he had on after coming out of the locker room at halftime.

Vescovi wasn’t hurt. He wasn’t under the weather. He was benched. 

A fiery head coach Rick Barnes pointed to two reasons after Tennessee’s comeback came up short in the 100-92 loss to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill in the ACC-SEC Challenge.

“Consistency,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference. “I mean, I just told the team that the one thing that I’m really, really guilty of is complacency. I can’t stand it. I don’t care who it is.”

Santiago Vescovi this season: 7.6 ppg, 38.1% FG, 28.6% 3FG

Vescovi played just 14 minutes in the loss — 10 minutes in the first half and only four after halftime.

Had Tennessee not used a 22-6 run to get back in the game, eventually cutting the deficit down to as little as six points without the help of Vescovi, he never would’ve come back on the floor. 

“To be honest with you, (if) we hadn’t got back the game he wouldn’t have played,” Barnes said. “I don’t care who it is. I’ve been like that my whole career. I think it’s a privilege to play this game.”

Vescovi was scoreless and was a minus-14 in his 14 minutes. He shot only one time. He had one rebound, two assists, two steals, two turnovers and four fouls. 

“We can’t score 92 points and him not have a point,” Barnes said. “I mean, we gotta know what we’re gonna get.”

It was only the second time in Vescovi’s 121-game Tennessee career that he didn’t score, with the only other shutout coming on December 18, 2020 against Tennessee Tech. He led the Vols in scoring last season, at 12.5 points per game, and was second on the team in 2021-22, averaging 13.3. 

Up Next: No. 10 Tennessee vs. George Mason, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+

Vescovi started to look like himself in the final game of the Maui Invitational last week, scoring 21 points against Kansas on 8-for-16 shooting from the field, including 5-for-11 from the 3-point line, in Tennessee’s loss in the tournament’s third-place game.

But he’s been held to eight points or fewer in five of Tennessee’s seven games this season. He’s currently fifth on the team in scoring, averaging a career-low 7.6 points per game. His current 28.6% shooting from the 3-point line is another career low.

“I said it to you guys last week, we’re looking for consistency,” Barnes said. “And we’re gonna make (shots). We can shoot the ball and we’re gonna make some of those shots. I mean, we can’t get some of those dialed up better. But it’s gotta be consistent.”

The consistency isn’t just a Vescovi problem. As much was made evident by the Vols giving up 61 points in the first half Wednesday, trailing by 22 at halftime, then outscoring North Carolina 53-39 in the second half.

“We need to know what we’re gonna get every single night,” Barnes said. “From everybody, not just those guys. 

“You gotta put it on me. I thought we had them ready and we didn’t for the first half. But again, I’m proud of the fact that they fought to get back in it.”

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