Rick Barnes explains Tennessee's approach to the SEC Tournament
Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinksy pointed it out Friday night. Three of Tennessee’s six losses this season came by a combined five points — one point at Vanderbilt, two points at Auburn and two points at Ole Miss.
“That’s how fine a line winning and losing is,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Saturday night, after the Vols finished the regular season with a 75-65 win over South Carolina.
The win helped the Vols (25-6, 12-6 SEC) clinch a fourth-place finish in the SEC and receive a double-bye in this week’s SEC Tournament.
Tennessee in the SEC Tournament: Friday, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Tennessee will play Friday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, facing either No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 12 Vanderbilt or No. 13 Texas. Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed, Florida is No. 2 and Alabama is No. 3.
The Vols climbed into the top four of the league after winning eight of their final 10 games over the last five weeks. After starting the season with a perfect 14-0 record, tying the program record for the best start to a season, Tennessee went 3-4 over a span of three weeks in January.
“We did that early and put us in a tough position,” Barnes said. “Our goal, like every team that starts out, (is) to try to win the regular-season championship, now you go to the (SEC) Tournament, it’s a whole different thing. You’ve been going through a two-month-and-half grind of the regular season. Now you’re going to maybe try to redo it all in a week, a weekend.”
There should be plenty to play for in Nashville. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi on Saturday morning had 13 SEC teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee is seemingly comfortable on the No. 2-seed line, but could make up ground on the fourth No. 1 seed if the Vols can advance in the SEC Tournament. A matchup with No. 1 Auburn on Saturday would be set if both teams advance out of Friday’s quarterfinal round.
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“Everybody talks about do you go (and) put everything into it?” Barnes said Saturday night when asked about his approach to the conference tournament. “This time of year, you got to put everything into it, every single game you play.
“I don’t care what anybody thinks and you can look at whatever. I mean, I’ve never coached a team that didn’t go on the floor wanting to win that game.”
‘Right now, we’ve got two games left if we don’t get better’
Most projections show three of the four No. 1 seeds spoken for, with Auburn, Duke and Houston leading the seed lists. The fourth No. 1 seed has been occupied by Florida since Wednesday, when the Gators won at Alabama.
Tennessee and Alabama could still be in the conversation, but that’s not where Barnes was focused Saturday night.
“Right now there are a lot of teams fighting for their lives to try and get to the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “We’re fighting to get better and that’s what’s on our agenda, that we have got to continue to grow.
“Otherwise, right now, we’ve got two games left if we don’t get better. And so right now it’s up to us as a program to see how long of a run, in terms of games, that we want to make here.”
