BTO’s Ole Miss Postgame Report

Barnes, in his radio post-game interview, noted his frustration with Chandler penetrating deeper than they want.
That's exactly what one would expect from a young but confident player when he's lost confidence in his outside shot.

Does anyone offer transcript of Barnes' postgame radio interviews? So much of what's been questioned or noted on this thread he addressed.

In addition to praise for Vescovi and Ziegler, Barnes had some special praise for ORN that everyone needs to hear. Good things are developing within this team, that should eventually show up in stats and wins.

The streamed archive might be saved at utsports dot com. I’ve never tried to find it. Possibly thesportsanimal dot com but there are probably rights issues with The Vol Network for them to do that.
 
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It's like when one player is 'off', then the entire team takes the same persona. We literally play as a team, either all are shooting good and everyone wants to shoot, but when shots aren't falling, everyone looks hesitant and wants to pass instead of taking open shots. Everyone will go through slumps, we just have to stop doing it as a team. We need one leader to step up and I don't think we have that, at least not now.
Either way, we got a win and that is what matters at this time.
Go Vols!!
 
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1. You never take a conference win for granted, at home or on the road…we just went to Alabama down 2 of our best players and gave them everything they wanted, this league is tough and these coaches know each other, short handed or not…that doesn’t mean it wasn’t ugly or that there’s not room to improve, but you take any conference win in any fashion that you can get them, tonight included.

2. I’ll go positive first…Santiago Vescovi continues to show himself as quite arguably THE GUY on this team. He doesn’t disappear, he might take an ill advised shot or two, but when other guys are playing hot potato and afraid of the moment he is not. Add in that his on ball defense is dramatically improved and he’s looking more and more like a guy that very well might find himself on an All-SEC team at years end. Gutsy effort from him tonight though, 41mins, 17pts 6rbds 5ast, multiple big plays down the stretch.

3. I’ll go another positive, Zakai Zeigler, he was an absolute pest the last 5 minutes and hit a huge 3 as well…his 3pt% has been disappointing to me but the rest of his game has been impressive, that guy does not back down and he was an absolute nuisance to Ole Miss defensively especially when they lost their PG late.

4. Ok to the bad…Fulk looked like $hit, on both ends, which is really disappointing considering how he looked against Zona. Maybe that’s effects from COVID and I get that, but I wish Barnes would have identified it earlier on and made the move to keep him out sooner, he was bad tonight. Chandler also struggled for a large part of the game but came alive late and made some big plays, he’s got to step it up as he’s struggled a bit of late for us.

5. The defense was elite, once again, yet another opponent below 1ppp which ties the program record at 10 straight opponents in the KenPom era…will also boost our overall efficiency number defensively and keep us #2 nationally. On nights like tonight when shots aren’t falling that defense will keep you in a game, it travels on the road and that is a great luxury to have, but it doesn’t mean that everything is fine.

6. The offense was just as equally opposite bad and the defense was good, we continue to shoot really poor from the outside and that just doesn’t make a ton of sense, we’ve got better shooters than the numbers suggest, and of late turnovers haven’t helped those matters at all. The minutes played was a good sign that Barnes is indeed seeing Powell > Bailey, but we’ve got to start shooting better from 3, simple as that, 29% from deep isn’t going to cut it.

7. We won a conference game, we move to 1-1, I preached weeks ago that our start to SEC play was rough…2-3 was expectation and anything better would be gravy, we move to 1-1 and had a real chance at 2-0 even being short handed. There are things to work on for sure and Saturday against LSU won’t be easy at all, Barnes has struggled there and they just beat Kentucky, will be a rowdy crowd and a tough test…LSU is the #1 defensive team in the country and we are #2, theoretically this game could be even uglier than tonight’s, hang on.


GBO!!!
Number 2 is correct. He is Santi is our best player and I'm not sure it's even close.
 
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This is not a popular opinion to some but imo Santiago Vescovi has been one of our best players since he landed in Knoxville.

Quite possibly the best player currently on this team. He's definitely the most consistent, and nothing seems to rattle him. Not even coach.
The guy never takes a game off.
I've never understood the flack he takes from some of our fans.
 
This is not a popular opinion to some but imo Santiago Vescovi has been one of our best players since he landed in Knoxville.

Quite possibly the best player currently on this team. He's definitely the most consistent, and nothing seems to rattle him. Not even coach.
The guy never takes a game off.
I've never understood the flack he takes from some of our fans.

It should be a popular opinion, because he is 100% the best player on this team. He is the only dude you can rely on each game to at least show up. I am a huge Santi fan, and so should our whole fanbase. We're a 0.500 team right now probably if we don't have Santi. He's been that important.
 
Powell is a defensive liability, but when that side of the ball is playing as well as it is, I guess you continue to give him the minutes for his offensive potential.
Powell also needs to give more effort. There was a loose ball that he could have dove for, but he didn't even attempt to go after the ball.
 
Powell also needs to give more effort. There was a loose ball that he could have dove for, but he didn't even attempt to go after the ball.

He could also take some 12-15 footers. Last night he got into the paint a couple of times and was looking to get rid of the ball instead of draining a good look. We forget that he’s still pretty young and inexperienced. If he elevates his offense before too late in the season TN could do a 180 offensively. Success breeds success. Everybody else’s opportunities improve if Powell can expand his offensive threat beyond taking the open 3s. He’s not too much of a problem for defenses when he just looks for open 3s. If he draws more attention watch for KC to take advantage.
 
He had the time to drive, I believe. I think his hesitancy, once again, affected what he probably should have done.
I'm thinking the play was based entirely on defensive hot reads by each player, starting with the ball handler.

Just looking at the 00:05 video still posted earlier, it looks like OMiss has a man on the ball, and two bigs in man but lagging to take away the lane. So we see ORN and another Vol possibly pulling up rather than penetrate and fill the lane. Possibly their read was to provide a shooting screen if the lane was taken, and it looks like another Vol is offscreen in the left corner with a defender on him.

Barnes will let them know if anyone did not read or react correctly, but for Chandler to have dribbled toward the top of the key looking for a screen would have invited disaster, as there were 3 defenders who could jump the screen or contest his shot over the top, and not enough time for pick & roll action to produce a shot.

But I've only seen it on radio, and that video still.
 
You’re right. My bad. Led by 10 late in the first half and by 6 at one point in the 2nd half.
What I said turned out to be right, however not nearly as right as I had remembered. I guess I'm getting old and my memory sucks. The 10 point lead was really short lived. Your statement was correct for about 39 minutes. Lol
 
I'm thinking the play was based entirely on defensive hot reads by each player, starting with the ball handler.

Just looking at the 00:05 video still posted earlier, it looks like OMiss has a man on the ball, and two bigs in man but lagging to take away the lane. So we see ORN and another Vol possibly pulling up rather than penetrate and fill the lane. Possibly their read was to provide a shooting screen if the lane was taken, and it looks like another Vol is offscreen in the left corner with a defender on him.

Barnes will let them know if anyone did not read or react correctly, but for Chandler to have dribbled toward the top of the key looking for a screen would have invited disaster, as there were 3 defenders who could jump the screen or contest his shot over the top, and not enough time for pick & roll action to produce a shot.

But I've only seen it on radio, and that video still.
I actually agree with what you saw as I saw the same. I guess in my mind I was hoping KC would make some kind of miraculous play. Probably not too bright on my part.
 
I don’t know if the stats support it, but ZZZ’s 3-point attempts seem to be really off right now. He had several efforts as bad as Bailey’s “game winner” at Bama.
 
I actually agree with what you saw as I saw the same. I guess in my mind I was hoping KC would make some kind of miraculous play. Probably not too bright on my part.
LOL--your hopes were absolutely justified based on the "VolNation consensus scouting report" when he first committed to us!
 
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This is not a popular opinion to some but imo Santiago Vescovi has been one of our best players since he landed in Knoxville.

Quite possibly the best player currently on this team. He's definitely the most consistent, and nothing seems to rattle him. Not even coach.
The guy never takes a game off.
I've never understood the flack he takes from some of our fans.
I’ve been impressed with his ability to defend and play big when he is in the court with KC and ZZZ. He is getting tough rebounds and defending at a high level. Very confident when the ball is in his hands the last minute of a game. There was an article just now that said he has been our best player so far this year and I agree.
 
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@bleedingTNorange - dude - what is going on with our offense? We don’t shoot any jumpers from the top of the key anymore (we used to give to Fulkerson and he had a decent jumper/drive from the key) and in the last two games it seems like we’ve stopped attacking the rim. Ziegler and KC really were driving the ball.. sometimes they got blocked or missed but a few times it led to an easy put back by Nkamhoua or Fulkerson.

It seems to me Barnes’ HATES iso offense and discourages the guys from making plays with the ball in your hands. Seriously I think that. I’ve been watching since Bruce Pearl, and I genuinely think HoF coach Rick Barnes gets mad at his players for driving the ball.

Our offense has been like this even when we had Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield. Huck up a bunch of 3s. If not, you pray that your “go to” guy can handle the majority of it.
 
@bleedingTNorange - dude - what is going on with our offense? We don’t shoot any jumpers from the top of the key anymore (we used to give to Fulkerson and he had a decent jumper/drive from the key) and in the last two games it seems like we’ve stopped attacking the rim. Ziegler and KC really were driving the ball.. sometimes they got blocked or missed but a few times it led to an easy put back by Nkamhoua or Fulkerson.

It seems to me Barnes’ HATES iso offense and discourages the guys from making plays with the ball in your hands. Seriously I think that. I’ve been watching since Bruce Pearl, and I genuinely think HoF coach Rick Barnes gets mad at his players for driving the ball.

Our offense has been like this even when we had Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield. Huck up a bunch of 3s. If not, you pray that your “go to” guy can handle the majority of it.
Your last paragraph is patently false regarding the 3-ball. Our offense is completely different from just last season, even. Grant and Admiral played in an offense that demanded the ball touch the paint on nearly every possession, and also on mid-range jumpers. This year it's totally different.
 
@bleedingTNorange - dude - what is going on with our offense? We don’t shoot any jumpers from the top of the key anymore (we used to give to Fulkerson and he had a decent jumper/drive from the key) and in the last two games it seems like we’ve stopped attacking the rim. Ziegler and KC really were driving the ball.. sometimes they got blocked or missed but a few times it led to an easy put back by Nkamhoua or Fulkerson.

It seems to me Barnes’ HATES iso offense and discourages the guys from making plays with the ball in your hands. Seriously I think that. I’ve been watching since Bruce Pearl, and I genuinely think HoF coach Rick Barnes gets mad at his players for driving the ball.

Our offense has been like this even when we had Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield. Huck up a bunch of 3s. If not, you pray that your “go to” guy can handle the majority of it.

It would be wise for people to listen to Barnes’ post game press conferences before posting their opinions about what coach ‘believes’ or ‘hates’…. It can be enlightening
 
@bleedingTNorange - dude - what is going on with our offense? We don’t shoot any jumpers from the top of the key anymore (we used to give to Fulkerson and he had a decent jumper/drive from the key) and in the last two games it seems like we’ve stopped attacking the rim. Ziegler and KC really were driving the ball.. sometimes they got blocked or missed but a few times it led to an easy put back by Nkamhoua or Fulkerson.

It seems to me Barnes’ HATES iso offense and discourages the guys from making plays with the ball in your hands. Seriously I think that. I’ve been watching since Bruce Pearl, and I genuinely think HoF coach Rick Barnes gets mad at his players for driving the ball.

Our offense has been like this even when we had Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield. Huck up a bunch of 3s. If not, you pray that your “go to” guy can handle the majority of it.
We are attempting…

-66 shots a game which ranks 9th nationally
-28.6 3pt shots a game which ranked 22nd nationally

Those are much different numbers than any other Barnes Tennessee team, it’s a change if offensive philosophy towards much more modern basketball. Think Alabama, they are currently taking 64.3 shots a game and 29.7 3’a a game. If that is going to be how we play then we have to shoot the ball better, simple as that.
 
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We are attempting…

-66 shots a game which ranks 9th nationally
-28.6 3pt shots a game which ranked 22nd nationally

Those are much different numbers than any other Barnes Tennessee team, it’s a change if offensive philosophy towards much more modern basketball. Think Alabama, they are currently taking 64.3 shots a game and 29.7 3’a a game. If that is going to be how we play then we have to shoot the ball better, simple as that.
It is apparently the influence (at least partially) of new volunteer analyst, Gregg Polinsky, formerly of the Detroit Pistons.
 

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