Rod Barnes Quotes (74 Quotes)

They're putting up numbers on a consistent basis.

Bruce Pearl has done a great job of getting those guys to buy into what he is doing. If we had responded with some intensity and aggressiveness early on, it would have been a much better basketball game. After we got into the flow of understanding how hard they play, we were just too far down.

The best thing about them is they have totally bought into winning. They don't care about their stats they just care about doing what it takes to win.

I coached today like I always coach. I was coaching to win and that is what I am going to do. I will reflect on what has happened after this is all over. I don't have time for that right now. We cannot allow what has happened or what will happen distract from what we are doing.

I think our kids are working hard. My focus is to make sure we move forward and get better.

I just thought they played better than we did, it snowballed and we couldn't stop them.

We were fighting an uphill battle all night.

Those guys are talented they're young they're inexperienced. They need some maturity.

He's really good at catching and scoring with the basketball. I don't think we've gotten it to him enough I would like our kids to find him a little more. He has made it easy for us, and I've really focused on our offense this year, which is why I think that our defense is what needs improvement now.

All of my energy, and all of my focus, has to be on our players. I got into this business for students, for their welfare and their well-being. As long as I am coaching, that is how it's going to be. I'll deal with my emotions later.

The thing that has helped him, our guys are so close. This is a close-knit group. I think that's one of the reasons why he came back. Most kids in that situation wouldn't have played today. But he made the commitment to come back, and I think the guys were excited to see him and really welcome him.

I'm a basketball coach. I'm going to coach next year. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to do it in college. But if I have to coach sixth-graders, that's what I'll do.

I thought their zone affected us. It kept us from getting the ball inside the way we're capable of getting it.

We've just gone to two places and got beat pretty badly. We go back home, the last time we were at home we played a great game. We're one game away from a regular-season winning season, and that's something we haven't done (since 2002). We get the opportunity to do that Saturday.

We looked like we lacked confidence and we were tense taking the shots.

I thought Kentucky played a great second half.

We've stayed with the older guys for a long time. Not that we're going away from them, but we've got to do something different.

We're the third-youngest team in the league, and it's starting to show. We're in a rebuilding process and we've still got a few missing pieces. We lack in confidence --kind of like my first season here. This is an unforgiving league. But one of these games, we're going to put everything together.

A lot of things happen from your point guard. If he looks like he's in control, your whole team is more confident.

It's time to get back up and get started back to work. We will look to pull out another win and this is our first opportunity to get that win.

My level of respect for him just took a whole different level, to make that trip and then drive back and then practice and then play today and then fight in a rival game.

We wouldn't want to leave tonight and travel to Alabama. We've got to play better than this (against Western Carolina) next Tuesday.

We're a team that's gotten off to a good start. But we've got to come to play every night, or things will change in a hurry.

You're always concerned and I'm concerned about our kids. But you know, let's win. And not win to change anybody's perception of what my job situation is. I've just always been a guy that, when I set goals, stays focused on accomplishing it. I still see that winning season out there. All the other things, whether I'm going to be back, all that, you just learn that all that counts is Saturday.

I'm not going to take those questions today.

We just make a phone call to the construction sites to make sure to water down the area.

We're obviously going into this game feeling better about ourselves. I think our guys will be excited about playing. By the time we get there, they'll (State) be ready to play, and our kids realize that.

It has been difficult the last few years to beat Mississippi State. And it will be difficult (today). The great thing about it, a lot of our guys have not been a part of those losses. A lot of our new guys, they've never played Mississippi State.

You can't come to the floor and get 19 turnovers against one of the top 10 teams in the country and expect to win. It just doesn't happen.

When we can go inside to Curtis, he's good at scoring with the basketball. I've really focused this year on our offense. We're a little behind on defense.

Sometimes we all need a wake-up call. He realizes if he'll just go play his game, it'll take care of itself. I'm sure he wants to prove himself. He wants to get something done. He's probably a little hungrier than he was before.

My wife made the statement that she felt like the kids were pressing, because I was pressing. She said, You've got to relax and have fun.' Once they saw that coach was relaxed and wasn't yelling and screaming, they relaxed and played well as a result.

He was good, not great. You could tell he had not had live action in the last two games. But I saw some aggressiveness.

At the end we were playing like a team that hadn't won in a while. We did everything we could to give it away.

I'm disappointed we didn't play better. Florida had something to do with it. But we turned it over way too many times.

I didn't look out there today and think we were overmatched. Without the turnovers, I don't know how many other teams would beat us.

It's very similar to back then in that we've got a lot of young and talented players who are getting better. I have to say this team is a little bit of a surprise to me right now. I thought we would eventually be good, but we have handled adversity a lot better than I thought we would. And that's similar to the way it was when we had Michael and Keith and all those other guys. This group probably has more confidence at an earlier stage than that group did.

We won three in a row, we lost three in a row and we can very easily win three in a row again. What we can't do is take steps back. Even though we didn't win, we made a step forward today.

I thought Arkansas did a good job of defending. I don't think it was one particular person. I think their zone affected us and allowed us not to get the ball inside to where we were capable of getting it.

I think we will get support. I think it's not where it needs to be, but it's gotten better. We're looking forward to having a good crowd. I think the rivalry (with LSU) from football might carry over to basketball. It will take some time, and wins, but it's better than it has been in years.

If you had asked me before the game, I'd have told you we were ready. After the game, I'm concerned. We looked like a young and inexperienced basketball team, and we haven't practiced that way.

Whenever you play Mississippi State, it's obvious it means a lot. You don't take that lightly. What I don't do is, I don't put our whole season into it. But when you look at the schedule, obviously, every year, as soon as you get the conference schedule and you look and see when you play Mississippi State. That's what rivals are all about.

We're going to play in the NCAA Tournament. So this is not their last go-around with me, OK

We get a chance to find out where we really are. We had a disappointing loss against Georgia and now we're on the road again at Arkansas. This is the first time this year that we've taken back-to-back road trips. We've played well. This will be a definite challenge for us.

I think we have the makings of a special team. But there are so many teams in our league that are better than we are, I believe, at this particular point that we've got a lot of work to do. But if we continue to work hard, this team could be an NCAA team, but we're so far from that right now.

He has really helped us and been a good backup point guard, but we have got to get him back playing well. I challenged him after the Mississippi State game. He has lost some of his aggressiveness. He was attacking, knocking down shots and running the team. The last few games he has not played as many minutes as we need him to play.

It snowballed on us, and we could not stop it. It was one of those days when things don't go right for you, and they go for the other team. I just thought they played better than we did.

We were passive in the first half, and they were aggressive. After they built their lead, we settled down and realized it is not as tough of a press if we take care of the ball.

I think Coach Pearl has done a great job. There's a lot of excitement at Tennessee and their kids are playing hard and playing well. It's become one of the toughest places to go and play.

We had a couple of times when our guys could have squeezed off shots when they chose not to. We've got to work our way out of this and gain our confidence back.