Tennessee picked up a big win over LSU on Saturday night, and it was a collaborative effort from all parties. A familiar face, Ethan Burg, really stepped up in the win, adding eight points, including two three-pointers, on 3-4 shooting from the field. Burg has hardly played since the new year, logging 11 total minutes since 2026 began, but on Saturday, his 18 minutes were a major difference for the Vols.
Rick Barnes said after the game that getting Burg to slow the game down was a major priority for the coaching staff, emphasizing to him not to do too much.
"From here until the end of the year, it might be one game, might be the last game," said Barnes. "You’ve got to be ready. And Ethan, what’s helped him? We moved him to the scout team, along with some other players, just to try to get him to calm down, slow down, because he’s always been competitive. He was trying to do way too much."
The biggest emphasis of them all was one thing and one thing only. Take care of the basketball.
Barnes said, "All I asked him to do when he went to the scout team, just show me you can play without turning the ball over. That’s all I want to see. Just don’t turn the ball over. Be fundamentally sound. And you know what? He embraced it."
Ultimately, maybe the biggest thing that's come out of Burgs benching was his growth in maturity.
"You’re not getting enough reps the way you’re going right now. You need to get in shape. He’s done that. So that’s, to me, is where he really showed his maturity," said Barnes. "And I asked him last night, I said, ‘Why do you think you haven’t played?’ And he said, ‘Coach, honestly, because I wanted to do it my way. And I realized my way’s not going to work.’ And that’s maturity on his part."
Ethan Burg's rise will be needed come March
The biggest flaw on this Vols team is the lack of point guard depth behind Gillespie. With Burg proving he's more than capable last night, this was a huge win for not only Burg but the coaching staff. If Burg can continue this rise, the Vols' ceiling gets much higher in the tournament.
If Gillepsie can rest for 10 minutes or so and thwe Vosl don't loose too much ball handling they will be in a great spot. Burg has growen in so many ways accoring to Barnes and his rise was needed. Tennessee looks to be in a great spot heading into a big week of basketball.