Everything
after the Vols defeated Norfolk State
After the Tennessee basketball team’s victory over Norfolk State, head coach Rick Barnes held a press conference to go over what went well for his team in their season’s last non-conference match.
Tenth-ranked Tennessee basketball finished its non-conference campaign with a victory on Tuesday night in Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, defeating Norfolk State 87-50 to improve to 10-3 on the year.
Zakai Zeigler had a game-high 17 points for the Vols, going 5 of 10 from beyond the three-point arc. Zeigler also recorded four thefts and four assists.
Guard Dalton Knecht, in his fifth year, finished with 15 points on 4 of 10 shots from the field, four assists, four rebounds, and a steal. Tobe Awaka, a sophomore forward, added 10 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Awaka pulled down six rebounds on the offensive boards.
After taking 11 days off between games, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes spoke with the media after the victory to talk about what went right for his squad. This concludes Barnes’s remarks.
Regarding Dalton Knecht’s play during Tennessee’s 20-2 run in the last ten minutes of the first half:
“I believed he resumed playing.” He also comprehends. And in the previous few weeks, I believe he has gained a lot of knowledge, including the realization that he will need to put in more effort to become more open. We need him to be aggressive, even if it takes some effort to get to his space. And, once more, he did something excellent. I believe he is making a defensive effort. He mentioned that he made a mistake tonight when he heard a ball screen and he moved to the side, allowing someone to drive straight by him. Other than that, though, I felt like he was genuinely confined and attempting to carry out what we discussed.
In case he was worried about Tennessee not being sequestered during an extended Christmas vacation:
Yes, in my opinion, it’s the longest gap I’ve ever had. I don’t recall taking five days off in the past. I would say this: in my opinion, it ought to be mandatory for every Division I basketball team. I believe that men should take a break during the Christmas season. We had an extremely demanding preseason due to our rigorous schedule of play and extensive travel. Furthermore, I believe that it was beneficial mentally as well as physically. And I believed that everyone returned in high spirits.
Jonas hasn’t put in as much practice. The first night he was here (after the break), he pulled his calf. It’s difficult to go past that. Additionally, he needs practice reps. At that moment, he excels in his basketball game. However, as we previously discussed, you want to approach conference play with the intention of assembling a full game. And the boys are well aware of the belief that we need to know what to expect from those guys each and every night if we want to become consistent. Once more, though, we take our chances, we miss them. As long as we continue taking them, that is. On the other hand, I felt that our players played excellent defense and really locked in. For the most part, I felt our post guys did a great job getting out there on the ball-screen coverings.
And based on their paper record, the club appears to have excellent coaching. They hit the ball with a lot of force. They work really hard and finish strong. From the free-throw line, they score almost 25% of their points. They have men who can shoot threes, even though they don’t shoot many of them. They also work as a methodical team. They will carry out their duties with efficiency. We played well tonight again because we were aware of that. Indeed, we did. in terms of perhaps being as near to a finished game as possible. All we have to do is layups. We really cannot leave those on the board or the floor. However, once more, I felt that the emphasis had improved since our return.
Leave a Reply