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Jan 10, 2026; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes talks with Tennessee Volunteers middle Felix Okpara (34) in opposition to the Florida Gators in the course of the second half at Exactech Enviornment on the Stephen C. O’Connell Middle. Necessary Credit score: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Photographs After No. 24 Tennessee dropped a 91-67 choice at Florida on Saturday, Volunteers coach Rick Barnes was seething. All he might see on the stat sheet handed to him have been the overabundance of turnovers listed.
When the Volunteers (11-5, 1-2 Southeastern Convention) play host to Texas A&M (13-3, 3-0) on Tuesday in Knoxville, the veteran coach hopes for a greater outing concerning ball safety.
“I will take the blame for it, as a result of I do not know if I’ve had a group to play that dangerous and do the issues and make the selections they made out of out of bounds, these kind issues,” Barnes mentioned. “It was simply actually poor basketball. And that is on me.”
Tennessee has struggled in the beginning of convention play. The Volunteers misplaced their convention opener to Arkansas behind poor free-throw taking pictures (12 of 23), adopted with a house win over Texas earlier than Saturday’s breakdown.
The Vols dedicated 12 first-half turnovers and 18 total. They almost surpassed the 19 turnovers they dedicated of their season-opening win in opposition to Mercer.
“We’re not robust sufficient but as a group when issues aren’t going our method to know the right way to combat by way of it,” Barnes mentioned.
Towards Florida, Tennessee was holding its personal in entrance of a boisterous crowd in Gainesville, Fla. The sport was tied at 26-all late within the first half earlier than a flurry of errors created a 13-point halftime deficit from which Tennessee didn’t recuperate.
Tennessee dedicated 4 turnovers and had a shot blocked in a brief stretch after the sport was tied.
“You possibly can’t win this sport on hope,” Barnes mentioned. “You possibly can’t. And provides (the Gators) all of the credit score. After that, the final 4 minutes (of the half and on), they managed the sport and did what they needed to do. And you understand what? They received relaxed, they began taking part in. And we did not guard, we did not put up the resistance. Simply means too many defensive breakdown coverages.
“Sooner or later in time, you bought to take a deep look inside your self as coaches, as gamers, and say, ‘OK, one thing’s received to vary right here.'”
As for Texas A&M, issues are trending in a unique course. The Aggies have received 11 of their final 12, together with three straight within the SEC by counting on a stellar protection. In Saturday’s 83-76 convention win over Oklahoma, the Aggies restricted the Sooners to 4-of-20 taking pictures within the sport’s closing minutes.
“It (has come) a good distance, we have (gotten) quite a bit higher,” mentioned sophomore guard Ruben Dominguez, referring to the group’s defensive depth. “Now we have to belief one another and press the ball extra. We did that within the second half.”
Oklahoma averages 84.4 factors per sport. The Aggies held the Sooners underneath 80, solely the sixth time they’ve did not surpass that mark this season.
“I believed our guys have been contemporary within the sport late,” Aggies coach Bucky McMillan mentioned. “We have been higher defensively within the halfcourt within the second half as a result of our guys took their matchups personally. Oklahoma had 17 turnovers, and we solely had eight. We additionally shot extra free throws.”
–Discipline Stage Media
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