All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee basketball: Vols loss to UNC reminds us of Rick Barnes weaknesses

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts in the second half of a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. North Carolina won 78-73. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts in the second half of a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. North Carolina won 78-73. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Tennessee basketball’s heartbreaking 78-73 loss to the No. 7 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels reminds us of Volunteers’ coach Rick Barnes’s weaknesses.

Rick Barnes has done an amazing job as head coach of the Tennessee basketball program. Rebuilding the Vols from the ground up, he managed to find the players he wants, they are developing at a rapid pace, and he has this program in position to explode onto the national scene in the future.

The fact that the Vols are a Top 25 team and played the defending national champions to the wire with only one senior in the rotation, a guy who doesn’t even start, is proof of how good of shape he has the program in. And the program has stability now, something that is very rare. So understand that this article is not a call for the Vols to get rid of Barnes. That would be the most ridiculous decision ever.

However, it’s time to revisit the things that got Barnes fired by the Texas Longhorns in the first place. And the biggest criticism of him has always been in-game offensive adjustments against other elite coaches.

Barnes is a guy who gives his players the freedom to push the tempo on offense. Part of that is playing through bad runs instead of calling timeouts. But that also includes sticking to your guns to a fault.

In Tennessee’s two losses this year, the Vols could not keep up on offense with defensive adjustments the opponents made. Remember, they had control over the Villanova Wildcats in the first half in the Bahamas.

Then Jay Wright switched some things up at halftime, and the Vols scored only one field goal seven minutes into the second half as a result. The same thing happened on Sunday.

Roy Williams changed up his defense, causing the Vols to go ice cold in the final 10 minutes of the game. In fact, they only had two field goals in the final eight minutes. But the real kicker was in the final minute.

Clinging to a one-point lead, Tennessee was set to in-bound the ball off of a UNC timeout. Williams made the defensive call of the game by throwing the Vols off with a press.

Barnes should have immediately called a timeout right there. He at least should have seen something like that coming from Williams and prepared his players for it.

But he didn’t, and the press caused a turnover. UNC responded with a go-ahead three, and that was the difference in the game.

Look, Barnes did a lot of great things coaching on Sunday. But there was no excuse to let that defensive call be the difference. He has got to be ready for that in a late situation.

Overall, Barnes is a great coach. He actually makes pretty good adjustments at times as well, particularly on defense. And as Roy Williams said Sunday, the program is in a great place.

But they blew a huge opportunity on Sunday because Barnes failed to make key adjustments.

Tennessee basketball has faced the two most recent national championship coaches so far this year, and the Vols had the lead on both of them. Then both coaches switched things up and caught them off-guard on offense. A great defensive call on Sunday caused a key, avoidable mistake. It’s something Barnes should have been ready for. We can’t ignore these failures.

Home/Vols Basketball