The question Rick Barnes asked at halftime to spark No. 5 Tennessee's comeback vs. Vandy
There was no ranting and raving in the Tennessee locker room at halftime Saturday. Rick Barnes didn’t tear into his defense after giving up a season-high 44 points to visiting Vanderbilt in the first half. It wasn’t about getting doubled in rebounds or getting beat in just about every other statistical category.
Instead, with No. 5 Tennessee down 44-31 at the break, Barnes just had one question for his struggling Vols.
“I talked about a mindset,” Barnes said. “I said this time of year you either wilt or you grow. I said, which one are you going to do? You’re going to be in games like this the rest of the year.”
Tennessee found a way to grow in the second half, completing the comeback from what was as much as a 16-point deficit in the first half on the way to an 81-76 win.
Zakai Zeigler scored 22 points in second half to lead Tennessee comeback
Zakai Zeigler scored all of his 22 points in the second half and added eight assists to lead the rally for Tennessee (21-5, 8-5 SEC). Chaz Lanier scored 21 points and added eight rebounds and Igor Milicic Jr. had 10 points.
Both Jahmai Mashack and Jordan Gainey scored six of their nine points in the second half and and combined for 10 rebounds. Felix Okpara finished the game with six points and six rebounds.
“The second half just proves to you that how important a mindset is,” Barnes said, “because that’s what the message was at halftime. We better change our mindset right here, right now in terms of everything we’re wanting to do.”
Vanderbilt (17-8, 5-7) did whatever it wanted to in the first half. The Commodores shot 54.8% from the field, went 6-for-12 from the 3-point line and out-rebounded the Vols 21-10.
Vandy cashed in three Tennessee turnovers for nine points — two Tennessee turnovers to start the game led to a quick 6-0 deficit — and scored seven second-chance points off of four offensive rebounds. The ‘Dores had 15 points off the bench, 20 points in the paint and six fast-break points.
The Vols were getting beat every which way they could get beat.
“We were awful,” Barnes said. “I can’t remember how many times I heard our guys on the bench yelling, ‘We’ve gone over that. We’ve gone over that.’ I can’t explain it. I wish I could. We weren’t good.”
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Even after the dramatic rally in the second half, Barnes described the Vols as “disappointed with where we are” at this point in the season.
Tennessee started SEC play 4-4, has gone 4-1 over its last five but still is in sixth place in the league, 3.5 games back of first-place Auburn with five games left.
“Our goal every year is to try to contend for an SEC Championship,” Barnes said. “We know that’s gone. A regular-season championship, that’s gone. But it’s a mindset.”
‘There’s a lot of teams heading into February that would love to be where we are’
The mindset can’t be lost with everything that is still on the table.
Tennessee started the day as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament according to the in-season bracket preview Saturday afternoon on CBS. The tournament selection committee, which released its current top-16 seeds, had the Vols at No. 5 overall.
“There’s a lot of teams heading into February that would love to be where we are,” Barnes said. “There’s a lot of teams that probably are already taking inventory. And then there’s those teams that really want to make a run at a national championship.
“And if we’re going to be one of those teams, it goes back to what I’ve talked about, a mindset of getting better and being able to look at each other and talk.”
