What Rick Barnes liked most about Tennessee's 88-53 drubbing of Vanderbilt

Rick Barnes didn’t point to the season-high 14 3-pointers No. 9 Tennessee made Saturday night in the 88-53 drubbing of Vanderbilt at Thompson-Boling Arena. He didn’t point to the 28 assists, another season high, either. 

He looked past the 33 points scored off 19 Vanderbilt turnovers, the 30 points the Vols scored in the paint and the 25 points they scored in transition. 

What the head coach liked most about the most lopsided and most complete 40 minutes of basketball his Tennessee team has played this season is how it ended.

It didn’t end with garbage time as he emptied his bench. It ended with valuable minutes for the bottom of the rotation. 

“Really pleased with the young guys trying to play the game the right way at the end,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference. “I thought that was really important. 

“I thought those minutes were really good for them … they respected the game in terms of trying to play it the right way.” 

‘They really truly tried to play the game the right way when they were out there’

The regulars did the work for the first 25 minutes or so. Dalton Knecht both had 14 points and five assists. Jonas Aidoo had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Josiah-Jordan James scored 13 to go with seven rebounds and Santiago Vescovi scored 12 on 4-for-5 shooting from three while adding five assists of his own. 

But freshman wing Cameron Carr and redshirt freshman guard Freddie Dilione V got 13 minutes. Freshman forward Cade Phillips got 10, too. 

It was a season-high in minutes for Carr, Dilione’s most since November 6 and Phillips’ most since December 12. And they all took advantage of the rare opportunity.

“They really truly tried to play the game the right way when they were out there,” Barnes said. “It wasn’t coming in, nothing like garbage time, that they understand they were valuable minutes. 

Carr scored eight points on 3-for-7 shooting. He had an assist, a steal, a turnover and three fouls. Dilione scored two points, climbing high for a dunk in transition, and had one rebound, one steal and one turnovers. Phillips hit a couple free throws for his two points and grabbed three rebounds to go with a pair of assists. 

Up Next: Tennessee at Missouri, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Carr explained the little bits of progress as stuff that doesn’t show up in a Tennessee box score.

“Honestly,” Carr said, “just being engaged going down the stretch. Once we got into the second half, it was basically just continue what we started. And so going into the second half, we were just (saying) let’s just continue follow what the older guys do and try to be our best.”

That was going to be next to impossible to replicate. Tennessee led by 31 points at halftime and as much as 41 points in the second half. 

Drawing heavy praise from the always critical Barnes is just as tough, especially when your chances to get on the court are few and far between.

“Nobody is a fool here,” Vescovi said. “You know how hard it is sometimes. When you stay off the court for a long time, coming out on the court, it can be hard just to get in rhythm. But I think the guys are doing a great job — Freddie, Cam, all the guys that have been playing lately like freshmen — they’re doing a great job by just letting the offense get to them, playing the right way, staying engaged on defense. And that show goes a long way.

“Especially with Coach (Barnes) the way he is, that’s all he wants to see out of those guys. Just to play hard, let their offense come to them and they’re just doing a great job with it.”

What has to be earned is trust. That happens day in and day out in practice. And it has to be seen on game day, whenever the moment comes.

“What they’re learning is it’s a game of trust and they want us to trust them as a coaching staff,” Barnes said, “… when you get minutes in the game, you’re not out there trying to show things you can’t do. You’re trying to show the things you can do.”