NASHVILLE — Tennessee basketball met Auburn in the SEC Tournament semifinals for a rematch of a close game in January.

This time, the 4-seed Vols upset the 1-seed Tigers, 70-65, to move to the conference championship game.

Here is everything Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said on the win.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

I said it yesterday. Same thing applies today. Incredible respect for Bruce and Auburn and the job he's done there, the year that they've had.

I thought today both teams played their hearts out. It was a high-level, hard-fought game both ways. We made a run early. I don't think in anybody's mind they were going to make a run to get back. They're an excellent team at pressuring to get the ball in in late-game situations.

We just kept talking to our guys they're going to have to make some plays, work to get open, have to get the ball in.

I thought Zakai was awesome during timeouts today. I thought the way they were connected. We had some blunders we can't make when they made their run. The timeout. I was really encouraged. Guys were saying, Just take a breath here, settle down. Zakai said we're going to do this on this possession, next possession this, next possession this. It went pretty much the way he described it.

Really a great team effort from our guys today. Proud of every one of them. Again, just a high-level, hard-fought game.

I don't think they're listening, you know? I think they're sequestered somewhere (smiling).

I think we let our body of work speak for it. Again, I look at our league. I'll say it. I'll be disappointed if we don't have 14 teams in the NCAA tournament. I think it's obvious that Auburn and Florida have played themselves into a 1 seed, which they should.

I don't know. Again, I don't think they listen. I do trust 'em. I think where we are in today's game, they're going to do the best job they can to get it right for everybody and be fair.

But again, I don't think they listen, so they're going to do what they think they need to do.

I'm really proud of our guys. It's so different. Auburn dealt with the same thing. Everybody normally has more, at least a day or so, to prepare. These quick turnarounds, walking through, finding out last night when we walked through, this morning, a little bit more this morning, than probably usual.

Just proud of the fact that I thought everybody went in the game, did what we needed them to do. D Stone's two drives were big plays. Getting to the bonus early was important for us. I thought that was really, really important.

Johni Broome is such a tough guy to guard because he passes the ball. We started trying to double him some. Late when we had a three-point lead, we decided we were going to go back and play him as hard as we could straight up and take away the three-point line.

Again, both teams fought their hearts out. It was a high-level game, it really was. But I'm just proud, again, I told our guys, and I meant it, it's not about schemes this time of year. Again, I thought both teams showed a lot of toughness, a lot of fight. Today it came out our way.

Well, maybe it's someone looking out for me because I think him being on the bench has helped us. I think he's being more rested where he's able to do some good things at the end of the game. To be quite honest, if he wasn't in foul trouble, I wouldn't take him out. I probably should rest him more. We've talked about that for four years.

I trust him. We talk through the game. I constantly am asking him how he feels. Like today, our offense, in our floppy action, I thought that Jordan and even Z down there, when we put Shaq up top to play make, Chaz, I thought those guys really started getting in a rhythm, playing with each other, I thought we set some really good screens today.

But the silly ones are the ones, like last night I told him, I want you to pick up a cheap foul. He went out the next possession and he did it. I said, Deserves you right, because it's in his makeup. I don't want to take that from him.

Today he was in great command of himself because he's so competitive. I mean, if you could have been in the huddle hearing him talk to his team, big-time leader today. The way he saw the game developing, the way it unfolded, he had a presence about himself today that was outstanding.

I think maybe sitting there, got to look at it a little bit different. Again, he was outstanding today.

I think there's a lot of things. Obviously the transfer portal has played a big role in it, some situations NIL, where people can rebuild quickly.

You look at Florida. Johni Broome was recruited as a mid-level player. He's national Player of the Year. You look at Zakai, wasn't recruited by anybody. Jordan Gainey, UFC upstate. Chaz Lanier, north Florida.

The same thing, just goes to show you there's players at every level. Certainly guard play.

I don't think there's been a post player that has moved up from a lower level that has made the impact ever that Johni Broome has. That doesn't translate like Garbine played us. You look around, it tells you.

When you get to the NCAA tournaments, those guys that we got, those are those guys now at those schools we're talking about, they get a chance to play. They're confident, they play.

You look around the league, I've always said there's enough players out there for everybody. You got to get the ones that work for you. But parity, is it real? It is. Going forward, I don't know where. Again, I can tell you right now I can assure you that every major program in the country's got a transfer portal board right now that's lighting up like you can't believe. Most of the time it would be those lower-round games that are looking to go up. If they're good enough to come up right now, they're good enough to be in the NCAA tournament.

Well, you have to think about it. Yeah, it's tougher because of the fact if you win it, you have to go three days in a row. You're not going to have to do that, and you get a day in between. There's no day in between here.

Such quick turnarounds. It's tough. I mean, I think as coaches we had our wish, we probably would wish it would end today because tomorrow it's going to be another hard-fought game for two teams. You turn around, with all the attention heading into March Madness, you got to keep your guys focused and there.

I just think anytime you go in, like these multiple team tournaments that we have early in the year, I think coaches are wanting to get away from the three days. It's a grind, hard on you, just because of the quick turnarounds, not your normal preparation.

It's really hard to win a conference tournament because... We haven't been in a three-day all year. We have in the past and it's tough to do that.

He's impressive. We've seen it before throughout the year. When a guy stays engaged and locked in. I think it speaks volumes about him as a pick and roll. We knew when we were recruiting him what a wonderful person he is.

He lost some dear people to him right before he got to Tennessee. He had a really tough fall where he missed some practice because he was just emotionally struggling. When you lose people that are close to him, as he did... But he fought back. I think he has so much respect for his teammates, they have for him, he's continued to do what we've asked him to do.

We're not surprised. But most of the time he's undersized at the four position where he normally plays. But he's a fighter. His drives were huge today. I thought he worked hard defensively to try to get things done for us. When you start doing some different schemes, him not being out there as much as everyone else, I thought today he handled it pretty well.

Again, I think we're no different than the teams... Again, we've seen teams catch lightning, magic in a bottle this time of year. There's no doubt in my mind that Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, go down the list, they all came here with the idea to win this tournament. I don't think there's any question. Because of how close our league played out this year, how many teams you see go on the road. I think Ole Miss wins at Alabama. Things like that that happen.

When you have those kind of wins throughout the year, you feel like, We got a chance, we can play good basketball. I think there's a lot of teams that have the mindset they're going to come here, we all want to win a championship. Championship sets you apart.

Every year, some championship team is brought back to be recognized. Not so much runner-ups, but they do recognize championship teams. There's no doubt that we came here with the idea that we'd like to win a conference championship knowing it's going to be really hard.

Everyone did, I think. I believe that.

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