For a coach with 850 career wins, Rick Barnes knows success can play out in every kind of way.
In Tennessee basketball’s overtime win over Georgia, the weathered headman looked on as his group executed one of the most tried and true formulas of getting the job done on the road.
The Vols strangled the offensive glass.
Tennessee outrebounded the Bulldogs 26-7 on the offensive boards, utilizing some of Barnes’ patented mantras of physicality to earn a second-straight victory away from home. The Vols’ frontcourt entered the campaign poised to be one of their group’s deepest strengths, but instead, Tennessee’s bigs have seen their fair share of ups and downs over the course of the first half of the season. On Wednesday evening at Stegeman Coliseum, the ups shone through. The success on the boards brought the difference.
“It’s probably our best offense,” Barnes said. “I think everybody knows that. I just feel like this team was built to have those big guys out there. The more they’re out there in these situations, learning how to guard when we have to start switching. That’s the way for us to go right now. It gives us an advantage on most nights.”
The Vols got strong production from a spot where they’ve been needing it most. J.P. Estrella notched 17 points and nine rebounds during his second start in a Tennessee uniform, bringing an all-important third scoring presence to the lineup to accompany Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament.
Estrella’s newfound role not only came from some exceptional work in practice, but it also came by way of his own request. The 6-foot-11 forward wanted to know what he needed to do to bring more of an impact. Barnes had an answer.
“He pretty much told me, ‘keep being you,’” Estrella said. “‘But the biggest thing is, you got to be physical, and you got to have a little bit of that Uros mentality.’ So I’ve been trying to really do that on the glass, and I feel like tonight was a night where I proved that I can do that, and I just got to be consistent and keep doing that every single night.”
When the bigs do their jobs, it not only helps the optics of what kind of team Tennessee can be. The waves of strong frontcourt play ripple to the other areas of the floor, into the game of a defensive-minded guard like Bishop Boswell.
The sophomore is averaging 4.7 rebounds on the season, but reeled in 10 of them on his way to a double-double. With his 6-foot-4 frame, Boswell alone can’t slalom his way in amongst the trees to chase boards. He needs his big guys to do the dirty work.
“I wouldn’t get it if it wasn’t for them,” Boswell said. “They had the tough job of boxing out, and it’s my job to just come in and clean it up, especially when I’m on guards who aren’t going to crash most of the time.”
