Tennessee head basketball coach Rick Barnes met with the members of the local media Wednesday ahead of the Vols’ second fall practice as they prepare for the 2021-22 season.
Here’s what Barnes had to say.
Newcomers adjusting to program
Tennessee’s roster is vastly different now than it was a year ago. After the 2020 season, the Vols lost seven players to the likes of the NBA and the transfer portal. That much turnover doesn’t usually bode well, especially on a roster with so few upperclassmen.
But Barnes was busy over the offseason and brought lots of talent in. Tennessee’s squad features a whopping eight newcomers, led by the country’s No. 4 recruiting class of five-stars prospects Kennedy Chandler and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, four-stars Jonas Aidoo and Jahmai Mashack, and three-stars Quentin Diboundje, Zakai Zeigler and Handje Tamba.
Sophomore guard Justin Powell, a transfer from Auburn, rounds out the list of Vol newcomers.
Though just two official fall practices into the season, Barnes has liked what he’s seen in terms of the newcomers fitting in.
“Like you would expect,” Barnes said. “They’ve all had good days, they’ve all had some days where they’ve been up and down. The attitude has never wavered.”
Barnes mentioned Huntley-Hatfield and Aidoo in particular as two freshmen that have impressed him with their development. They each had their respective struggles over the summer – matching up in practice against the likes of John Fulkerson and Olivier Nkamhou – but Barnes believes that competition is critical to their continued improvement in the program.
“I think the fact that we have the depth that we have, the competition and practices being good, which has helped them,” Barnes said. “But, are they where we need them to be right now? No, they’re not. But I think they will maintain the attitude we’ve had up to this point.”
Timing is finally right for a return to Texas
Barnes had always been hesitant to schedule a return to Texas. He had a legendary 17-year coaching career there, leading the Longhorns to the NCAA Tournament 16 times, and did not want the matchup to be about him. But this year was finally different.
Tennessee will face Texas in Austin as a part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 29, and on Wednesday, the SEC announced the matchup would be in primetime, an 8 p.m. EST tipoff.
“Will it be a tough game? It will be, because coach (Chris) Beard and his staff are terrific basketball coaches and they do a great job,” Barnes said. “Will I expect the arena to be a full house? I do, which again will be great for our guys but we will have gone through some of that prior to that because it comes in the middle of the SEC season.”
It was a combination of factors that brought Barnes to the decision to return to Austin. One was Texas’ plan to close its longtime arena, the Frank Erwin Center, giving Barnes one last chance to coach a game there.
A second and more important factor to Barnes was that his grandson’s birthday falls right around that day the Vols will be in town, an opportunity for Barnes to be with family.
“I’ve said it before, the fact that my grandkids are back there and my grandson’s birthday right around there is a nice benefit,” Barnes said.
Texas won 19 games last season on its way to a Big 12 Championship. The Longhorns were, however, upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by Abilene Christian. But with the trajectories both programs are on, and the fact that Texas is set to join the SEC in 2025, Barnes thought that the matchup would be beneficial to the Vols to get a head start.
“But the fact is where our program is, where their program is and now that they’re coming into the league it makes us look smart enough to get a jump on what it’s going to be like in Austin,” Barnes said.
