Saturday’s SEC championship celebration for the 13th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers was short-lived for head coach Rick Barnes.
A notorious workhorse, Barnes’ preparation for what lies ahead began less than 24 hours after his game-day suit was drenched with water, even as he was named SEC Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
“I’ve never been really good at enjoying winning because my mind’s always onto the next thing,” Barnes said. “We know that right now everything we’ve worked for is in front of us.”
Having split the regular season conference title with the Auburn Tigers, the Vols will be the No. 2 seed in this year’s SEC Tournament, set to face either LSU or Mississippi State, opponents that Tennessee beat by an average of 22.5 points.
Closing the regular season on a four-game win streak, the Vols have been stout on the defensive end, holding the opposition to an average of 59.3 points on 37-percent shooting during that stretch.
“Our defense is what we hang our hat on,” Barnes said. “We’ve tried to do that all year, and we believe if we can stay with it, it’ll help us win.”
The Vols currently rank fourth in the nation in defensive efficiency with a rating of 92.4, their highest since Barnes arrived in Knoxville three years ago.
Opponents have recorded 70 or more points just nine times against Tennessee this season, two of them coming by way of top-10 competition in Villanova and North Carolina.
However, Barnes still remains eager to improve on the defensive end.
“There are some things we need to sure up on our defense,” Barnes said. “We’ll probably spend more time with the zone defense. We have to stay sharp.”
Boasting 17 conference wins combined, LSU and Mississippi State have limped into the tournament on the heels of rough patches to end the regular season.
The Bulldogs, once regarded as the hottest team in the SEC, lost two games in a row after winning three straight. The Tigers, on the other hand, dropped two consecutive games before routing Mississippi State by 21 points during their season finale.
While neither team is an offensive juggernaut, both have proven that they are capable of putting up points. LSU averages 77.6 points on the year but has recorded 80 or more 12 times, including in five games of 90 or above. Mississippi State has accomplished that feat 11 times, with many of those instances coming before conference play began.
Despite LSU and MSU’s scoring capabilities, the Vols give up 66.3 points per game and allow opponents to shoot just 41 percent from the field, which is well below either team’s average.
“We remain who we are, and that’s a tough-nosed defensive team,” junior Admiral Schofield said.
No team has registered 80 or more points against Tennessee since Jan. 9, when the Vols defeated in-state rival Vanderbilt.
A week prior to that, in a home loss to the Auburn Tigers, marked the last time that the Vols gave up 90 or more points.
The Vols will need three wins in three days to capture their first SEC Tournament title since 1979.
The Vols aren’t the only ones that haven’t won a conference in a long time. Barnes hasn’t won a conference tournament since he coached Providence in 1994. Not many coaches know more than Barnes the effort it takes to win a postseason conference tournament.
“I told them, if you like this, it can be better,” Barnes said. “There’s still more to be done.”
Mississippi State and LSU will play Thursday night at 7 p.m. Tipoff for Friday is also scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcasted live on the SEC Network.
