Rick Barnes calls out refs after bottle-throwing incident seen around the world

On Saturday night, Tennessee Vols basketball coach Rick Barnes was livid late in the action and no one could blame him for that. We hate to blame the refs for the outcome of the game against No. 1 Auburn, but multiple questionable calls killed the Vols in the close loss to the Tigers.

The list of course includes the play where it looked like Felix Okpara was fouled, but when the whistle went off, it was for a travel being called, giving Auburn the ball instead of Okpara going to the charity stripe. Barnes was disgusted by the decision, throwing his water battle in fury. While talking to the press after the game, he made it clear that he felt the refs missed what everyone else saw - a clear foul committed on his player.

Rick Barnes was not happy about the missed foul call on Felix Okpara

"I think he traveled, but I don’t think you can put two hands on somebody’s shoulders," Barnes said via the Knoxville News Sentinel. "That is what my coaches told me they saw when they looked at it before the game was over. Maybe it didn’t. He traveled. He definitely traveled but whether he had help doing it, you’ll have to look at it."

That was Barnes' nicest way of calling out the refs. He held back in going after the team in stripes, but that water bottle throw let us know exactly how he was feeling. In the end, Auburn made the necessary plays to post the win, while Tennessee left the hardwood disappointed it couldn't pull off the upset.

With this game being so close, though, Tennessee is obviously going to have revenge on its mind when these two teams face off again down the road. Imagine if these two teams square off in the SEC Tournament with some hardware on the line. Barnes and Co. would love for that to happen.