Postgame Quotes: Vols 103, Appalachian State 94

Nov. 15, 2016

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes

(On the key of ball movement against Appalachian State)
"I thought we were much more aggressive offensively taking the shots that we want to take. I thought that part was good. We still made so many young mistakes that you can't make. We were good with our pressure early, turning them over. But, we got the lead and I told the guys at half time, `We're not playing a 32-minute game,' because I felt like there was a letdown in terms of the way we ended that half. We got outscored in the last four minutes, I think, 18-9 into the second half. That's not good. Obviously, they were running the ball right at us. We knew that coming in. We weren't getting back with a sense of urgency like we needed to. Offensively, I've said all along I think we can be a good offensive team, but right now we don't rebound it well enough, and we don't defend well enough. For two games in a row we've given up way too much dribble penetration. I thought Kyle Alexander did a good job. Detrick Mostella had six rebounds. Robert Hubbs III had one. Admiral Schofield had two. Lew Evans had two, and Grant Williams had one. So, think about it. Detrick Mostella out-rebounded three of our four front line guys. That's a problem. So, we need those guys to do that. We need to quit some of the plays we are making where we're not on edge. We didn't communicate well enough at times. We have a number of different packages that we use, and we weren't together on that. We knew we were switching when we weren't. It was the kind of game where I thought we would be up and down the floor. They did a much better job at attacking the elbows and space on the floor than we did. I think Coach Fox has done a great job, and Patrick Good was terrific. The things that he does and his feel for the game was good for them."

(On his decision to put Jordan Bowden in the starting line-up)
"The decision was offensively. We think he can score the ball. What did he do tonight? In our first scrimmage, he hit four three-pointers, but he wasn't defending the way he needed to. The last couple days he has made a real, conscious effort, I think, to try to defend better. He also has a tendency to turn the ball over trying to make great passes. He had no turnovers tonight. He can really pass the ball. He's an excellent passer. He's an offensive-minded player. He's got a good feel for the game. He understands it, but we started him because he earned it. The other night, the reason we switched the lineup a little bit is because some of the guys that started didn't do the things we wanted them to do defensively. I'll look at this tape and see. I thought tonight we did a better job with our help defense, but we didn't do the job we needed to do guarding the ball. Jordan Bowden can score. He can do that. We need him to. We put him out there for our offense, really, but defensively what he has done to improve."

(On the team's defensive improvement)
"Believe it or not, as bad as I think we are right now, we're still better than we were a year ago. I think it's being on edge and getting your defense set. It's being tough. Mental toughness is doing your job and playing the possession. You look at tonight, and Robert Hubbs probably played four minutes too many. Otherwise, we're pretty much where we need to be. We need John Fulkerson to give us more. He's a rebounder. He can do that, but he picked up four fouls in seven minutes. He's a guy that can rebound the ball, but it's a matter of guarding ball screens and guarding your man. Even with that, you have to rebound. We can't give up 17 offensive rebounds. We can't do that."

(On Kyle Alexander's improvement during the off-season)
"We're going to put the ball on the side. We couldn't do that at all a year ago. He can do that. Bob Kesling asked if he did that or did we call his play. We called two plays for him. We called the one where he fumbled the ball when he was posted up where you all sit. He fumbled that ball when he ran it down. Then, we called the three-pointer that he shot. Believe it or not, I would tell you that he's one of the three best shooters on the team. He just has to get familiar and comfortable enough to step out and do it. We called that and he stepped out too far. I think that was his first college three-pointer. I can't remember, but we called those two plays. Everything else he got into the flow of the offense."

(On coming back from a short deficit in the beginning of the game)
"When you start substituting, guys come into the game not being on edge when you should go to another level. Lew Evans did something to get a foul down there when the possession was over. So, we got that one back. I just think our energy dropped. We got the lead. Being the team we are right now, you let down. We think the game is over. We haven't learned that it's a 40-minute game, and you've got to play every possession. I thought the same thing happened at the end of the game. We expect Robert Hubbs to take care of the ball, and not turn the ball over. It goes back to being intense, being on edge and wanting to win every possession."

(On Kwe Parker's injury)
"We are still nursing it. We hope so. That is the whole point of trying to rest and get the chance to get better so we can hopefully have him in Maui, that is what we hope."

(On the schedule for the next week)
"We will be off tomorrow and then we all leave Thursday. We are all on different flights to get out there, but we will leave Thursday and get out there and get settled in. We will wait for you guys to come out. We will drink some pineapple juice. We will take you to Blackie's. I think they have pretty good Mahi Mahi. The biggest thing, (reporter Grant Ramey), is that we want to see you in your speedo."

(On Jalen Johnson)
"We have decided this last few days to redshirt him and Jacob Fleschman as well. We are going to redshirt both of those guys. We obviously have a lot of numbers and we would not do that, because I have never believed in redshirting guys that you didn't have great belief in to be really good. I will tell you that Jalen is one of our more skilled players and I think he is a talent. The last 10 days leading up to the game he really wore down a bit physically because he is trying to get his weight up and he has been a real pleasure to coach so it was a real tough decision. We didn't know what we were going to do until these last 10 days when we could tell he had really worn down. So we are excited because he is a guy that we project a year from now when Robert Hubbs leaves, that is a position we could see him stepping in and I think it will be a great year for him. Guys like Kyle Alexander would tell him that they wish they could have redshirted. Could you imagine Kyle if he had been able to red shirt? Lamonte Turner told me he thought the best thing that happened to him was to sit out. So we think its going to be a good thing for Jalen because we think he has a great future."

(On the transition defense)
"We work on the transition drill a lot. It is just different because in practice you can stop and correct it and you can't do that in a game. Some of the plays we made--it is somewhat baffling to be honest with you because it is just simple basketball plays. You got to get back. We told the team at halftime that all they are doing is running the same break we are running at us and we aren't getting anyone back. Fulkerson goes in the game and what that guy did to him was the same thing played against him every single day and he said he wasn't on edge. I think most of those guys will tell you that if they aren't getting back. They don't understand being on the edge, playing possessions out and finishing possessions. I could not imagine a younger team. We did some things better from the first game, but we still tonight did things like the young basketball team we are."

(On Jordan Bowden's play)
"Actually I am thinking about you in the speedo and that is not a good sight."

Reporter: "Mrs. Lewis would disagree with you."

"I thought (Bowden) did a good job, but defense is why he was coming out of the game. Then he comes across half court and throws the ball out of bounds for no reason, and he is learning a lot of things that he has never even thought about, but he is quick. We went to a horn set up top and he was able to get through the defense, and he is quick up there, but he should be doing that in transition. All we are asking him to do is use his speed and quickness towards transition and then tonight--he struggled defensively tonight. We put him at the four minute mark and we discussed it being winning time and he just let a guy drive right by him."

Tennessee guard Jordan Bone

(On his evaluation of his overall performance) 
"I wasn't satisfied tonight. I was disappointed with the defensive side tonight, I'm not really worried about offense. I think I need to focus more on playing defense."

(On if he feels like his is improving) 
"I feel like I need to improve every single game, running the offense more effectively and just knowing what we're doing and staying on edge."

(On playing two games before heading to Maui for tough competition) 
"It's always good to get your feet wet going and playing against teams like that, they're all well coached and they're all talented, so we're looking forward to those games."

(On if the team can consistently score near the amount that it scored tonight)
"We can. It's disappointing giving up 94 points. We have to get better on the defensive side. But I feel like we can score the ball really well."

Tennessee forward Grant Williams

(On how tonight felt after already having one game under his belt) 
"It felt a lot easier. The pace changed, I didn't feel like I was as frantic or as nervous as I was playing in front of the Tennessee fans. And it just felt like the game was coming easier to me which felt great."

(On what he attributes the easier feel of the game to) 
"I say a little bit of both film and the experience of playing. Recently, we've had trouble with playing under the lights, while playing in closed scrimmages in practice we do well. It's a transition. It takes time to play how we want to play and how we feel like we should play. Fact is, I was on edge the first game, and I felt like I was more prepared tonight. I felt like I was more engaged and just wanting to lead the team and be a vocal guy."

(On what changed offensively form last game)
"I feel like we were more aggressive tonight. When we played Chattanooga we were timid, we were afraid, we didn't know how the game was going to go. We were prepared for how good of a team they were, but we just didn't know exactly how we should play and what Coach would like us to do and what is in our realm of what we should do. We felt like we could be more aggressive tonight and we feel like we need to be more aggressive from here on out."

Tennessee guard Lamonte Turner

(On what caused the defensive problems)
"It's individual breakdowns and team concept help defense, being on the white line and stuff like that that we stress every day in practice. We just have to get back in the gym and get ready to work for Maui."

(On the difference in Kyle Alexander offensively)
"Kyle stayed here all summer with me and worked and got a lot stronger, he added probably 15 pounds. So with him scoring, I'm not surprised, because he's worked so hard at it and I feel like he deserves it. We need that on this team."

(On playing point guard and shooting guard)
"I wouldn't say it's a surprise, but I really don't mind it. I'll do whatever this team needs me to do really. I think of myself as a point guard, but I can also score the ball, so why not play off of the ball some."

Tennessee guard Jordan Bowden

(On forcing 15 Appalachian State turnovers in the first half)
"That had to do with us putting pressure on defense and causing a lot of turnovers."

(On the pace of college basketball)
"You have to bring it every night. It is quick. App State, they got up and down the court pretty well. You just have to be on edge and get ready."

Appalachian State head coach Jim Fox

(Opening statement)
"I'm disappointed. Give a lot of credit to Tennessee and Coach Barnes. They had us on our heels at the beginning of the game and it really showed. We didn't attack like I know we can. We got back in it, started attacking, and then came out at the start of the second half and again, kind of similar to Saturday night, we didn't attack the way we should. At the beginning of the second half and got down, they were kind of doing whatever they wanted offensively. Once we start I think we are at our best when we push and start attacking. I'm proud of our guys for playing the whole game. We can't go through those droughts and playing on our heels the way we did for too many minutes of the game and that really hurt us."

(On Tennessee's defensive pressure)
"I think not only did the pressure make us tentative but the fact that we missed easy shots. When you miss easy shots, and when you miss free throws, you get tighter. Their pressure really slowed us down and it's something, obviously, we know teams want to take us out of our secondary and take us out of our offense so we work against it a lot. Obviously, going against Tennessee's athletes are different than our coaching staff provides when they're out there. We just have to do a better job of attacking and I thought that was a difference in the game. Missing some easy shots; we had 15 turnovers at the beginning and we were tentative. We were really on the attack in the second half and our guys just have to more confidence in themselves in how good they are to not allow stuff like that to happen."

(On first half run by Tennessee)
"Again I think we missed some easy ones and I think they ramped up their pressure and it slowed us down. Our guys were making uncharacteristic mistakes. If we passed the ball up, we caught the ball right by half court and they would trap us. We were really tentative with things that we did and again, credit them. They did a great job. They are tremendously athletic and like I said, it's big when you don't see that in practice. Their athletes were getting out and getting up in us, and they forced us to play fast and play tentative. That was obviously the difference in the game."

(On closing the deficit in first half)
"I think we started attacking a little bit better and not playing on our heels in trusting ourselves and the system. When we do that we are a different team. We can't have a 21-0 run against you and expect to win against a team like Tennessee."

(On closing the deficit in second half)
"I told the guys, 'In our program playing hard and competing should be the norm.' I'm proud of our guys for not surrendering and not giving up, but you can't execute the way we did during their run and expect to win a game. We didn't come here to compete; we came here to win. We have to do a better job of getting our guys in that attack mentality."

(On guard Patrick Good)
"Patrick played a good game. He's always had that killer instinct. Again, when you have a 21-0 run against you, everyone in there is responsible for not having that attack mentality. I'm proud of Patrick. Patrick is going to be a very special player for us but we have to have that confidence to not let that happen to us in the first half."

(On Tennessee three-point percentage from Saturday to tonight)
"They're going to be a good team and they have good players. They had a bad night shooting (Saturday vs. Chattanooga) and we all have it. We knew they would bounce back."

(On opening home this week)
"Our guys love playing on the road from the energy the crowd brings and we feed off that. Two great environments, Davidson and Tennessee. Hopefully we can get some energy in our building to come out and watch this team that's going to be pretty darn good. So get on board now and get out there and support us and we are going to have some good games as our schedule continues to grow. I think it will be great to have a crowd out there that's into the game, is energetic, and can watch a pretty darn good basketball team."

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