The youth movement is showing no signs of slowing down for the 21st-ranked Tennessee Volunteers.
Freshmen Nate Ament, DeWayne Brown II and Amari Evans combined for 69 minutes of floor time during Saturday afternoon’s 86-75 loss at Arkansas, with each surpassing his season average in that category. Ament and Brown continue to reside in the starting lineup, while Evans averages 8.7 minutes per game but played 22 against the Razorbacks.
“We’re going to play the guys who perform and who have earned it,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Monday during a news conference, “and we’re happy with what they’re doing. Obviously we would like to see the older guys be more consistent and more dependable, but what we have is what we have.”
Tennessee fell to 10-4 after dropping its Southeastern Conference opener but will look to rebound Tuesday when the Vols welcome Texas (9-5, 0-1) to the Food City Center. The scheduled 9 p.m. tip time on ESPN2 is among the six league games that Tennessee will play during the regular season that start at either 8:30 or 9 Eastern.
Evans scored a season-high 16 points Saturday on 7-of-7 shooting while tallying three rebounds and three steals, and Barnes said the first thing he did on the flight home was to apologize to a fourth freshman, guard Troy Henderson, for not playing him in Fayetteville.
Barnes was asked Monday what he’s wanting out of the older Vols.
“Players have to do the things they don’t want to do,” he said. “They have to run the court every time. They’ve got to go to the glass. If we have a coverage, they’ve got to be in that coverage. We just had too many guys Saturday who didn’t do their jobs the way that we need them to do it.
“Free throws didn’t cost us that game. We didn’t do the details you have to do.”
Barnes throughout his 11 seasons in Knoxville has stressed that improved play begins with better defense, and that’s the message now.
“I feel like our whole defensive identity and toughness wasn’t something we showed the other day,” sophomore guard Ethan Burg said. “It is something we showed against Louisville, and we need to go back to that identity. We’ve lost four games now that we should’ve won.
“I don’t think the opponents were better than us.”
Tennessee and Texas are playing for the sixth time since Barnes switched his coaching responsibilities from the Longhorns to the Vols after being let go in Austin following the 2014-15 season.
Texas won the 2022 meeting 52-51 in Austin, but the Vols have claimed the four matchups since, which includes a 62-58 victory in the second round of the 2024 NCAA tournament and two wins last year — one in Austin and one at the league tournament in Nashville.
It’s Miller time
Barnes will be facing his third Texas coach in five seasons, having already encountered Chris Beard and Rodney Terry.
Sean Miller is in his first season with the Longhorns and, like so many in the profession, has a unique background with Barnes. Miller has a pair of coaching stints at Xavier from 2004-09 and 2022-25, and he spent the 12 seasons in between at Arizona.
“I met John Calipari in 1976, and we were at the University of Pitt’s camp,” Barnes said. “We were working this camp together, and each of us had a team. My team won the championship, and my starting point guard was eight years old — Sean Miller. I’ve watched Sean grow up, and I coached against him obviously when he was at Pitt and I was at Providence.
“I’ve got so much respect for him. His teams are always hard-nosed, and he’ll adjust and do whatever he needs for his team to win.”
A little hoarse
Barnes had a strained voice during Monday’s news conference and said it was the result of Saturday’s experience inside Bud Walton Arena.
“It was loud, and referees don’t want to get close to you, but you’ve still got to make sure they hear you,” Barnes said. “That’s kind of what happened.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.