While speaking about sophomore forward Jonas Aidoo on Wednesday, Rick Barnes deviated for a moment, taking the chance to lay out an objective for his entire Tennessee men's basketball team.

“We want to play faster than we’ve ever played,” Barnes said.

Just days into preseason practice ahead of their 2022-23 campaign, the Vols are laying the foundation for Barnes’ eighth season with the program. In his seventh, Tennessee notched a 27-8 record, won its first SEC Tournament title in 43 years and advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, where it was eliminated by Michigan.

For Barnes, playing faster starts with his players moving the ball efficiently, using their speed and decision-making to spread the floor and convert scoring opportunities. He wants his team to do it because he knows it can.

“Just with the versatility we have on the perimeter, we think that we should be able to play quicker, faster,” Barnes said.

The Vols are certainly on the right track to accomplish that goal and more after an offseason that was beneficial for both veterans and newcomers alike.

“I think we had a really good spring, and we followed that up with some young guys that came in early. … Some of the guys were away with a foreign team, which gave a couple of those new guys a lot of chances to get a lot of reps,” Barnes said.

Tennessee’s six-man freshman class includes McDonald’s All-American Julian Phillips, New York Gatorade Player of the Year Tobe Awaka and Minnesota prep standout D.J. Jefferson.

In making a quick impact, they’ll look to emulate guard Zakai Zeigler, who earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors last season after averaging 10.1 points-per-game in conference play. The work of Zeigler, Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James will continue to be key in Tennessee’s backcourt, as Uros Plavsic, Olivier Nkamhoua and others run the frontcourt.

“We tell the newcomers that, when they come in and if they’re smart, they’ll really take great notes and notice and hitch their wagons to those older guys,” Barnes said. “And I think that we’ve seen that probably more so with this group than any. Our older guys, they’ve done a terrific job with these young guys. They really have.

“Just letting them know how we want things done and letting them know that we’re very much a detail-oriented program and if you do what you’re supposed to do, it’s going to all work out, everything’s going to be fine. Just take care of the details and work hard every day. Our older guys have done a really good job.”

Though Barnes said he’s “not sure it even felt like an offseason” due to a busy schedule, which included an influx of visits due to the NCAA Transfer Portal, he stressed that he’s proud of the effort his team made during that stretch.

It’s now up to the Vols to keep that progress moving, but with the work and leadership Barnes has seen so far, that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

“Overall, I just like the way that the chemistry has been really good and the work ethic, maybe as good as we’ve ever had, which is a good thing,” Barnes said. “That comes from, I think, leadership from the older guys.”

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