After losing to Purdue 72-66 to conclude their postseason run and SEC Championship season, Tennessee’s season came to an end in the Elite 8. A big reason for Purdue’s victory over Tennessee on Sunday was the Vols’ recurring foul problems. Tennessee was unable to draw fouls, but the Boilermakers were able to.
In his postgame remarks, Rick Barnes emphasized Purdue big Zach Edey, who was flagged for 16 fouls in the Tennessee game alone. “He is a special player. He’s quite challenging to officiate. “He’s a very aggressive player,” Barnes remarked. “Officers find it difficult. Simply said, not many guys are like that.”
Barnes was cautious to avoid complimenting Edey or the umpires for their efforts on the court on Sunday, instead concentrating on on Edey’s uniqueness as a player
While foul trouble was a big part of the game, Barnes spent a lot of time postgame discussing the team and players. “I can’t begin to tell you how special this group was to coach,” Barnes noted postgame. “When people see the name Tennessee now, they know they’re in for a fight.”
This is a credit to Tennessee’s physicality. When you step on the same court as a Barnes-coached basketball team, you know they are going to be a well-coached, physical, and defensive-sound team. That was the case this year as everyone bought in on Barnes’ philosophy.
“The special thing about this group is character — their character, the character of their families,” Barnes said. “Our assistants do a great job in recruiting understanding the character we want in this program.”
Barnes also talked about the ceiling of this year’s team. It was clear to many Tennessee fans that this would likely be Barnes’ best opportunity to take Tennessee to a Final Four. That might be the case as Barnes gets a little closer to retirement at the end of this season, and he knows how good this team has been throughout this year.
“I have no doubt that we all believed we had a team capable of winning a national championship. That is still our belief. We simply couldn’t defeat such a formidable team.”
Despite Dalton Knecht’s brief tenure at Rocky Top, his time as a Vol and player under Barnes is not diminished. After the game, Knecht remarked, “I’ve never had a relationship as close with a coach.” “He fulfilled his promise to me by providing me with rigorous coaching. And he went above and above in so many ways.”
Knecht had one of the best seasons any Tennessee athlete has ever had, in my opinion. He dominated SEC play, scoring more points than any other player in the nation.
Jordan Josiah Although he is on the other end of the spectrum, James is also a VFL. JJJ studied under Barnes for five years at Tennessee. He talked about how his teammates impacted his time at Rocky Top, even though he took Sunday’s loss hard.
“I can’t describe the pain I feel right now, but I can’t describe the joy these guys have given me,” added James. “I adore them a lot. I’m pleased with the work we managed to complete. Knowing that we won’t be able to practice together tomorrow is the worst part.”
It’s a difficult defeat for the Vols. Everyone understood that if they could pull everything together, they could win it all. Still, it was a productive campaign that concluded with a conference title and tied the longest run in program history in the NCAA Tournament. These players lit up the SEC and gave fans an incredible postseason run, so they have nothing to be sad about.
