Everything Vols coach Rick Barnes said Monday about transfers, Murray State

Mike Wilson
Knoxville

Tennessee basketball will try to move to 2-0 on Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Vols host Murray State (9 p.m. ET, SEC Network), a matchup that coach Rick Barnes previewed Monday.

Here is everything Barnes said:

ON MURRAY STATE WITHOUT JA MORANT

“They return some experienced players that played for an NCAA Tournament team a year ago that are a year older. Their roles change year to year, I don’t care what you bring back. They are a really solid defensive team. I think they very much play the way we like to play — they play inside out. They have a really good post presence, really solid defensively. Like I said, they have experienced guys who have played in some big games. They have added to that. They have two terrific shooters from the perimeter. You have to really know where they are. They are an inside team with a post presence. Mostly man, but will mix in some different defenses right now to keep you off-balance. I think they are a well-coached team.”

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ON IMPROVEMENT FROM GAME TO GAME

“I think a couple areas. One would be our older guys really settling in and taking care of the ball. If they do that, I do think the younger guys will follow that lead. We need to be a lot more efficient with the offense. Defensively, I think we are playing hard. We have to play smarter. We have to improve that area. You can always get better in so many different areas. I think the biggest thing is if we can more efficient with our offense, that will help our defense, too. I would like to see some individual guys continue to develop in their roles.” 

ON HAVING A FEEL FOR THIS TEAM AND CATERING TO IT

“I don’t know if we have a great feel yet because we have dealt with so many injuries where we haven’t really been able to get everybody going in the same direction at the same time where we are healthy enough to know exactly what we do have and what we can count on night in and night out. I like this team a lot. I think it’s a group of guys that, they want to be good. It’s a group that has some guys that will continue to grow up as we go through the season. Every time they go out, they are going to — the young guys are going to be in and experience and see an experience that they have never seen before, in some situations. That is why it is so important that our older guys settle in quickly to help those guys. We can’t have learning experiences with the older guys and the younger guys at the same time. The older guys should know right now and understand to take care of the ball and not try to create situations where they are trying to hit a home run every time they have the ball. They just have to settle in and let it come to us. The younger guys, they are going to grow. That is what is going to be fun with this team — to watch them grow as we go through this.”

ON LAMONTE TURNER AND JORDAN BOWDEN IN PRACTICE

“Well, those guys, you know how much we think of them and how important they are to our team. Those two guys are going to be more aggressive. We expect them to be more aggressive, but what we expect them to do too is value the basketball at a very high level. We gave up 14 or 16 points off bad offense when we had no chance to defend. You turn the ball over and take bad shots, you never get a chance to defend the way you want to. Most teams are going to take advantage of it. Those guys, I really believe they know it is important that they take care of the ball. It goes again that our younger guys can settle into the roles they need to play.”

ON THE SECOND APPEAL FOR UROS PLAVSIC

“We’re still working on that and hope we can get some things in this week.”

ON THE POST ROTATION AGAINST UNC ASHEVILLE, HOW DREW PEMBER GETTING HEALTHY OR ZACH KENT EMERGING WOULD CHANGE IT

“We need all of them. Again, I think you need post guys. So to answer your question, yeah, Drew Pember can help us. Zach Kent can help us. And they have to help us. And they all do it in a different way, which is fine. We can scheme through that. What we need all of them to do, it’s important in this game, is post defense. We can’t win this game without really good post defense. As the season goes on, you can’t win any games without it because you’ll get exploited down there if you don’t play it. So it’s important that with Olivier (Nkamhoua), John (Fulkerson) and Yves (Pons), we need Zach (Kent) and we need Drew Pember to help us.”

ON JOSIAH-JORDAN JAMES TRYING TO DO TOO MUCH EARLY ON

“I think he will, there’s no doubt in my mind, he’ll settle in. I think he was antsy (against UNC Asheville), he was jittery. We talked about it. He missed a really critical part of the year, four or five weeks in the preseason. He didn’t get a chance to practice. He didn’t get to do anything before the exhibition game. Really the other night was the first time out. When you see him play the other night, that’s the most he’s played in six weeks probably. But I do expect him to settle down and slow down and continue to understand what we’re trying to do as a team. He was there. But when you miss that much, it’s difficult to get it back quickly. He’s been much better in practice the last couple days.”

ON WHAT MAKES A GOOD SIXTH MAN

“First thing would be being unselfish and being a good team player. I think every player wants to start. I don’t think that’s a question with any of them, they want to do that. I think Jarrett (Guarantano) is a great story. I think he’s a great story in terms of dealing with adversity, dealing with criticism and yet staying the course. He’s a great story in the fact that you can be down but you don’t stay down. You think about where we were as a football team and where we are now, it’s really a tribute to our coaching staff and the players. They’ve bought in and they do it. The fact that he’s the sixth man, it tells you he’s bought in to his team first. There’s no doubt that all (players) want to start. There’s no doubt. But the fact is, that’s the role he’s been asked to play. I think he’s embraced it and I think that’s what makes a great teammate. Are you willing to embrace the role that your team needs you to embrace to win? And he’s done that.”

ON WHETHER DREW PEMBER WILL PLAY AGAINST MURRAY STATE

“He hadn’t practiced since that last game. He was moving around a little bit more yesterday, so I don’t know if he’ll play tomorrow or not. I don’t know yet. Based on his past, I would be surprised.”

ON WHETHER ALL ATHLETES SHOULD GET ONE FREE TRANSFER

“I think we’re going to get there. I don’t think it’s going to be any question (we get there). I think that that will be a rule that I think’s already in place for women’s volleyball. The one-time deal, I think that’s already in place there. And I think if that happens, you know, you get one chance to transfer and go play immediately. I think the other part of that would be after that, there will be no waivers. I mean, people are worried about the one-time transfers, but there’s a lot of guys that leave two and three times. I think eventually you want to get to where there is some consistency. So I think as we move forward, I think we’ll go that way.”

ON HIS THOUGHTS ON ONE TRANSFER

“Do I like it? It doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t, simply because I look around, and people say, ‘Look, coaches can leave if they want to leave. Administrators and leave and do what they want to do.’ What I would like to think that happens is I do think that the reason there’s such a big transfer (list) is I think through the recruiting process, you should be recruited hard. If you’re not totally transparent and up front when they come to campus, they expect it to be just like the recruiting process. That’s not going to work, because recruiting is one thing. That’s why we work hard at really letting the players that we recruit know exactly how we do it, because we don’t want there to be any surprises. I think obviously because there’s such a big transfer portal, there’s a lot of surprises that go on. That’s just one theory. That’s a theory of mine. But, no, it wouldn’t bother me, if that’s what it is. I just think the NCAA is in a really thankless position with transfers and waivers and all this, because they’re just … you know, they’ve been mandated by the membership, what they want, what the membership wants, what you’re allowed to do here or do there or whatever. In time, there’s going to be change, but when there’s change, there’s going to be some good, maybe, and there might be some bad that comes from it. But I think you’ve got to be willing to change with the times, and if it works, good. If you change and you feel like you make a mistake, then you go back and correct it. I like to think we have a membership that wants to move in the direction, just trying to improve what we do.”

ON DAVONTE GAINES AGAINST UNC ASHEVILLE

“Yeah. Again, you know, Davonte is … we’re all excited about him as a staff. Also, he’s fighting, he’s got that little cast on his hand that still hampers him a little but. But you know what? I don’t think I was surprised by the way he played, because I watch him in practice. I do think he’s had days where he’s starting to really understand his role, what he needs to do. He’s got a terrific future. Like all of us, we need to get better, and he will, because he’s got that kind of makeup. He’s a baller. He just loves to play basketball, and he’ll fit in. He’ll find a way to fit in, and he’ll play the role that needs to be played. I think as he continues to develop and get older, all that, his role will change drastically, too.”