Skip to main content
Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Barnes, Vols happily rewriting postseason narratives

Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua finds himself in the middle of some celebratory spray after his 27-point performance in Saturday afternoon’s 65-52 NCAA tournament win over Duke in Orlando, Fla.
Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua finds himself in the middle of some celebratory spray after his 27-point performance in Saturday afternoon’s 65-52 NCAA tournament win over Duke in Orlando, Fla. Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua finds himself in the middle of some celebratory spray after his 27-point performance in Saturday afternoon’s 65-52 NCAA tournament win over Duke in Orlando, Fla.

By David Paschall 6 min read

In Tennessee’s second-round NCAA tournament matchup last season against Michigan, the Volunteers led 60-54 at the under-8 media timeout only to get outscored 22-8 down the stretch in a 76-68 loss.

There would be no déjà vu Saturday.

Leading Duke 51-44 at the under-8 break, the Vols closed out the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament champion with a 14-8 run for a 65-52 triumph and a berth in Thursday evening’s East Region semifinals in New York City. Did Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, even for a millisecond, venture back to last season’s collapse?

“I didn’t at all, because this is a different team,” Barnes said in a news conference. “Right from the beginning, our guys were really locked in.”

Or, as senior guard Santiago Vescovi more colorfully stated: “That feeling was awful. We didn’t want to relive that again.”