University of Tennessee Athletics
Vol Hoops Press Conference Replay
January 16, 2017 | Men's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Fresh off a win over in-state rival Vanderbilt on Saturday and with another tough road game at Ole Miss looming on Tuesday, Tennesse head coach Rick Barnes and freshman guard Jordan Bone spoke with reporters at the Ray & Lucy Hand Digital Studio on Monday.
A full video replay of the press conference can be viewed above while the full transcript of their comments can be found below.
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes
(On what he knows about his team five games into conference play versus prior to conference play)
"Up and down, but that’s kind of been where we’ve been. The fact that we’ve had our moments where you really think we’re going to move forward, and then we regress. We have to keep working back. What I do know about this group of guys is that I like them a lot. I think that they’re growing, and they’re starting to understand what it does take to compete at a high level, day in and day out. We still have a long way to go, but I think their attitudes, their communication that they’re starting to have with each other is going to be really important as we continue to move forward. It’s been a team that’s worked hard in practice. I really had to think, long and hard, about days where they didn’t work really hard, physically, anyways. I think they’re getting better at understanding the mental side of it. It’s a long way. We’re just into the third week of conference play, and it’s a long way to go. We’ve got a lot of room that we can continue to grow, and we need to do that with this young group of guys."
(On Jordan Bone’s performance vs Vanderbilt being a springboard for playing well the rest of the season)
"Again, you hope so, but I don’t know. I really don’t. I think his teammates really helped him a lot Saturday. I thought that was important for him. There’s so much he’s still trying to learn and understand about the game. He obviously shot the ball really well, made some terrific passes, but still has a long way to go defensively. He knows it. He’s young. That’s where those games that he missed, those nine games, those games come at a tough time of the year when you really want guys to figure out a lot of this. He missed that, but to say it’s just going to be like that every night, I don’t think that right now. I think I would say that about any player. You have one game, and if you want to be the kind of player that we think he is, then he’s got to come back and do it again, again, and again. I like to think that a game like that can give him the confidence. Certainly, now, he knows what we’re looking for. It’s something that he can build on."
(On Jordan Bone’s struggles in first two games back versus the turnaround against Vanderbilt)
"I think a little bit of all of that. I don’t think there’s any question when you miss those games that I just alluded to, it’s hard. It’s hard to come back, because your team is moving forward. You come into the game, and any young player especially, it’d probably be easier for an older guy to come back from nine games like that. But a young guy just getting started in college has to deal with a lot. I think it’s a combination of him not still fully grasping what we’re trying to get done on both ends. You can sit and watch it all day. You can sit in practice, but there’s a difference in being out there every day, getting the reps in. You need it. He needed reps early, and he didn’t get a chance to get those. Like I said, he did a terrific job on the offensive end Saturday. But, we’re going to play against a different team, a team that pressures, which I think should be right up his alley, because he’s so fast and quick. He didn’t handle that very well against South Carolina. I can tell you, I think Jordan is tough minded. You guys watch practice. You guys know I am hard on him a lot. It’s got to get to a point where he’s pretty hard on himself, too, to be quite frank. He really wants to get this done. It’s not like he’s refusing to try, but I think his teammates have a lot to do with it, too. I think they have to realize where he is, what he’s doing. Their communication with him throughout the game, when teams change defenses and do different things like that, he still needs help with that. We do have some guys on the floor that pick that up a little bit quicker than he does. They need to speak up and help him."
(On Admiral Schofield playing well, coming off the bench)
"What he’s doing now is what we want and expect. Actually, I think there’s much more there for him to get to, as he continues to grow and develop. You know, from starting to coming off the bench, I don’t think it really matters to him. The answer to the question, I do like that we can go to our bench, and he brings what he brings, really what weight he brings. Obviously, Lamonte (Turner) played well Saturday. Again, I don’t really think the starting part is anything I’d put a lot into. Admiral (Schofield) really has, in the last three weeks, just been really engaged. He’s been focused. He’s been poised, and simplifying what he’s trying to get done, what we need him to get done. He’s not afraid to speak up and help coach the team, and I’ve said that. That’s really going to be the next step, if we can get consistent with those guys having a voice amongst themselves, that they hold each other to a high level of accountability. Admiral’s not afraid to do that. He’s doing what we need to do, but I would say this about all of our guys, that he’s just got to continue to do it, and even get better at it."
(On “We Back Pat” week and Pat Summitt)
"I think what it means to all of us here, even if I wasn’t at Tennessee, the chance I got to know her, her passion, and what she’s about. Then, getting here, and not getting to spend the kind of time you’d like to have been able to spend with her. One, what she did for the game of basketball, I think is not what she’ll ultimately be remembered for. I think she’s a winner, and she’s continuing to win today. What she did, and the way she approached that dreadful disease, and what she wanted to do and go after it, it’s just great. Not for just this part of the country, but I’d like to think that the nation will take a good look at it, and want to continue to get behind in a way that will take that, and bring so much light to that disease. Again, I just love the lady, because she was a fighter, a winner, even after her passing, she still is."
(On what he has seen on film from Ole Miss)
"Well, you see a multiple zone team, changing defenses. They pressure. They drive the ball hard. They really drive it hard. A team that’s going to really look to attack you in transition. If you turn the ball over, they’re terrific. I think they’re a great open-court rebounding team, when they turn you over and get out. They really chase down shots and do a good job there. Again, we’ll have to deal with their changing defenses."
(On being better offensively versus a zone or man defense, and SEC defenses compared to South Carolina)
"Again, I think the numbers, I think we’re good. We don’t mind playing against either one if we’re engaged at doing what we’re doing, and if everybody knows what we’re looking for. We were good, obviously, against both of them, against Vanderbilt. I think South Carolina is a team; there a lot of teams that like to pick-and-roll. There are a lot of teams that like to pass. Well, I like to pass the ball. I like teams that pass the ball. South Carolina does as good of a job as anybody in the country at making you work to pass the ball every single time. They’re very good at trying to run you out of what you’re trying to do. When that happens, you have to be able to put the ball on the floor. They do a great job of swarming. If the ball goes inside, they really attack the lane area. Frank’s (Martin) teams are always great defensively. Again, you look at their numbers, and their numbers are as good as anybody in the country. They’re going to challenge your pass. They’re going to challenge the bounce. That’s their identity. That’s who they are. Again, I think it’s really just a compliment to Frank (Martin), because that’s just who he is. Their offense just gets better and better, as the year goes on, because I think he probably puts a great deal of emphasis, starting on the defensive end. He’s doing, again, just another terrific job with his team. I think there are other teams that can defend. You can defend a lot of different ways. I look at Andy’s (Kennedy) team, and I think Andy’s (Kennedy) teams are hard to play against when you look at them. The fact that his teams are aggressive. He prides himself, like Frank (Martin), coming out from under Bobby Huggins' tree. Those guys, they talk about toughness. They talk about not giving you anything easy. They talk about rebounding the ball, turnovers, and all that. So, every team, in their own way, can defend you differently. You know, go to Florida, and the way they defend. Vanderbilt, they went man-zone. It goes back to, again, when we were talking about Jordan Bone, if every game could be the same, I think I could tell you, 'Yeah, he’s ready to take that next step.' That next step will be, 'Can he adjust from game to game on how the game is being played, and who we are playing against?'"
(On what he gets from Jordan Bone and Lamonte Turner being on the floor together)
"We do like it. Again, it goes back to, whether or not, we are defending. Both of those guys have struggled at times on the defensive end. We need those two guys, in particular, to be much more consistent defensively. I’ve got a lot of confidence that the coaches in this league are really good, and when they watch tape, they see the same thing that we see. So when coaches get ready to put together their game plans, and they’re going to put together a personnel edit of each player on our team. They’re going to show what they do well on offense, if they do something well on defense, or what they don’t do well. Either one of those, so I just know that with our group, again, we’re young in terms of we’ve got a lot to learn over the game. We need Jordan. We need Lamonte to be consistent. Ole Miss is a heavy ball-screen team. So, they’re really going to have to defend the ball-screen, a lot. They’ve got to do their part. Earlier in the year, our guards were not doing their part in ball-screen situations. They were putting so much pressure on our post guys and our help defense that it was a struggle. As long as those guys will continue to work the way I think they have in the last, particularly, week and a half, I think we can get them there."
(On playing well on the road this year versus struggling on the road last year)
"That’s a good question. I don’t know that I could just give you a blanket answer. I can tell you, whether you play well at home or on the road, it’s when teams are engaged, when they’re focused, and when they understand how hard it is to win. I think there’s a natural tendency for teams that are inconsistent, like we’ve been, to think, 'Okay, you play at home, so it’s going to be easier.' It’s not going to be easier. It’s not. Certainly, going on the road is not going to be easy. I think it goes to maturity, a little bit of it. Teams that want to play and be a postseason team are the ones that are focused, they’re engaged, they’re poised, all the words you can talk about. They do it. There’s no doubt, when we’ve been at our best, and I’d say this about any team, is when everybody is locked in on the same page. Knowing what we’re trying to get done on the offensive end, what we’re trying to get done on the defensive end, special situations, moving the ball. Not one guy thinking he’s got to go make something happen. We did a great job Saturday of moving the ball, both man and zone. You know there’s so much that goes on in young people’s lives. You don’t know from day-to-day where their mindset is. It goes back to having a winning mindset, every single day, and not letting outside things creep into what we’re trying to get done as a team and a program."
(On former Vol and current SEC Network analyst Dane Bradshaw)
"Well, as a basketball player, I remember Dane as being one of the greatest shooters we ever coached against. What I thought Dane was as a player, he’s the kind of player that everybody that coaches this game would like to have on their team. He was willing to do whatever he had to do to make his teammates better. He would play any role that he had to play, and he knew exactly what he was good at. He knew how to play to his strengths. He knew how to stay away from what he didn’t feel like he could be productive with. As I’ve gotten to know him, he’s just a great man, great family man, and I think he’s been good for our league, because I think he loves the game of basketball. I think he loves the SEC. He’s knowledgeable about the game. He knows it. I think he should be a little bit more biased towards Tennessee. He’s very professional, obviously. I think, just like in basketball, on the set, he’s that kind of person that’s going to be a great teammate. The one that tries to do everything he can to make the network look good, and he’s going to continue to work at what he does, to be better at it. He’s such an easy person to be around, because one, he really wants to do the right thing. I think he appreciates student-athletes from being one himself. Then, I know he wants to see this league take off and get the kind of respect that it should get."
(On his players thinking about the NCAA Tournament)
"No, I’d be disappointed. You have got to have goals. I’d be disappointed, but that goes back to what we’ve been talking here a little bit. You can wish it, or you can go out every day and do something about it. It’s not going to happen by just wishing it and talking about it. You’ve got to take the necessary action every day to be a tournament team. It’s the teams that stay consistent, and you can go up and down. I’ve had teams that, you lose a couple in a row, then you get on a roll. Like we started out talking about it being a turning point, I don’t know. I wish I did. I wish I could sit here and say, 'Yeah, I think we’re heading down the right road.' But, I am one of those people that thinks every team that we play wants to win. Just by us thinking that we’ve turned the corner doesn’t mean anything, because every team we play, I don’t care if it’s late in the year, I’ve got respect for coaches and players at this level, that they want to win. If you want to be an NCAA Tournament team, you need to understand that from the very first game on, and realize that every game is building a resume to get you to that point. But, it doesn’t bother me that they think about it. I’d like to see them (think about it), but if they want to do it, they’re going to have to understand they’ve got to go do it."
(On being on the road, away from distractions helping his young team)
"Again, I don’t know. I don’t. I like when we’re together. We have a process that we go through. The process we went through yesterday, the process we use today and tomorrow is the same one that we use, whether we’re at home or on the road. The difference is, obviously, they’re not sleeping in their own bed. We’re going to have to leave here. We fly out today at five, whereas normally, I guess they would be back in their room. We’ll meet on the road, as we would meet here the night before. I don’t know if laying around, eating, and they study on the road. We have a study hall, all that. So, I don’t know if it’s that big of a difference. I wish I knew, but I know it’s not fun getting back at two in the morning. I think sometimes you try to analyze a lot of different things. I think what we sometimes try to do, I can tell you that we try to keep their body clock as close to normal as we can, with everything. Now, with school starting back, if you think about it, they’ve been able to sleep a lot more. I’m sure that’s what they’ve done with their time over the break, and now they’re back into classes. So, their routines have changed again, starting this past week. Again, I just think that’s keeping your mind set on the main thing, and not letting anything get in the way of that. Sometimes we certainly haven’t done that."
(On Ole Miss’ Sebastian Saiz)
"Anytime you see someone that averages a double-double, it catches your eye really quick. A guy that you have to think about different ways to defend him, because he’s got the ability to score. I love the way he rebounds the ball. Again, anybody that gets double-digit rebounds speaks volumes, because those balls aren’t just going to roll over there to them. It gets where they have to go get some of them, and he does that. You just have to be impressed with the consistency that he gets it done with. I mean, double-doubles aren’t easy to come by. That’s what coaches want to see, that consistency. I would say he does that about as well as anybody in our league."
Tennessee guard Jordan Bone
(On game against Vanderbilt jumpstarting him to playing well)
"I guess you could say that, but honestly that’s just what we needed as a team. We needed that win, you know, going on the road. We’ve been in a slump lately so I feel like that win against Vanderbilt was pretty big, and my teammates gave me the confidence to play. That’s just what we do as a team, we give each other confidence and just go out there and play well."
(On how he responds to a loss)
"The first thing is, when you lose, you have to watch film to see how you lost, how you played, things you did well, and what things you did bad. That’s the first step. The next step is just how you have to win – talking to your coaches, talking to your teammates, and just having a positive attitude after a loss."
(On sensing if he is back to where he was before his injury)
"I guess coming off of a performance against Vanderbilt, you could say that my rust had worn off completely, but I’m still working on my conditioning. I feel that my conditioning can be a lot better so I’m pushing myself every day just working on that."
(On the key to being a good road team)
"Again, just having each other’s back, having that confidence in your team, confidence in each other. Just going out there and playing as a team, just putting it on the line that we’re not losing tonight and just coming together as a whole to go out there and compete."
(On Vols improving on turnovers, going from 41 over a two-game stretch to six against Vanderbilt)
"There’s a sense of expectation amongst our coaches. They want us to protect the ball and that goes to show the confidence they have in us. We shouldn’t turn the ball over 41 times in two games. It should be around six turnovers and we should do that every game. We just value the ball and have a good outcome."
(On why team has been more effective on the road rather than at home recently)
"I’m not really sure, honestly. It’s like a coincidence that we win those games on the road, but we have the same emphasis when we play at home. We just haven’t been able to get the job done (at home)."
(On what has been the most difficult part of coming back from injury)
"I’ll say the most difficult thing would be the conditioning. It’s hard to sit down nine games, a couple weeks, just coming back thinking you’re going to be ready to play. This game is fast. It’s not high school anymore. It’s a lot more physical so that part and I would say the mental part about it too (is difficult). Just coming back ready to play, being out, watching those games, seeing what I can do to help my team. Just getting prepared before I come back."
(On how he needs to improve on running the team)
"I feel like just knowing where to be, knowing where my teammates are going to be (is important). Just being the voice of the team, that’s what a point-guard does – he controls the team, he’s the one always communicating, so I feel like I can work with a lot on the court. Just knowing the game (is key). Coming into college, I didn’t know much about spacing. Spacing has always been tough so just taking that every day and learning is going to be a process."
(On hearing from friends in Nashville after win against Vanderbilt)
"I heard from a couple of my friends. Of course they were excited for me. They were super excited that I got to do it at home so, yeah, I guess it meant a lot to them and a lot to me to just come out there and win, but they were proud of my performance."
(On comfort level with Lamonte Turner on the court)
"Me and Lamonte, all of the guards really, we’re all clean. It just showed against Vanderbilt. We all can play at the same time. It doesn’t matter who is on the court with each other, we all go out and play with each other."
(On team sharing the ball)
"Just as a team, we don’t want to be selfish. Selfish teams don’t win, so we want to pass it to the open guy when he’s open. We want to take those open shots. That’s just what it’s going to take to win – not being selfish with the ball and just helping each other out."
(On if he had a positive reaction from Coach Barnes after performance against Vanderbilt)
"There’s some positive, but, like you said, he’s always going to be tough on me. He wants me to be a really good basketball player, so he’s not going to let up on me. Not right now. I mean, why would he? We (as a team) haven’t done anything yet, so he’s just going to keep pushing me."
(On if he felt stress fracture from beginning of season or if it flared up)
"At the beginning of the year, I had like a foot sprain and I just played on it. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe that was how I got my third metatarsal stress fracture. Who knows, but I’ve been having foot problems ever since I got here, and I don’t know why."
(On if brother Josh Bone, former Tennessee Volunteer, has talked to him about defensive play)
"Defense is big. Defense wins games. I feel like you have to know positioning on the defensive end. That can help a lot with me, just knowing where I’m supposed to be at. Then, when I know where I’m at, I can just use my speed to get there quicker. My brother tells me I should play better defense, the coaches tell me I should play better defense. So, I’m going to work on it every single day."
