On the eve of Tennessee’s game against George Mason, Rick Barnes was upset.
The Vols’ head basketball coach wasn't pleased with his team's practice the day before their first home game in three weeks. It carried over into the pregame shoot around at Food City Center on Tuesday.
He left it up to his veterans respond and they provided a 87-66 win to snap a three-game losing skid.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION
"The guy's will tell you, I wasn't very happy with practice (Monday). I was not," Barnes said. "They knew that last night when we had our last team meeting. There's no doubt they knew exactly how I felt. I didn't speak to anyone of them during shoot around today and I thought they were great during shoot around. I expect (veteran players) to lead this team.
"When things aren't going well in practice, I expect them to be the voice...I thought tonight, those guys, I thought they were locked in. We just won a game against a good team."
In a season where newcomers have been the headliners, No. 17 Tennessee (5-3) turned to Santiago Vescovi, Zakai Zeigler and Josiah-Jordan James to lift the Vols out of a stretch that included three-straight games against top 20 teams away from Knoxville.
It was especially important for Vescovi, who is still seemingly trying to find his role in a Tennessee offense that has gone through transfer guard Dalton Knecht in the first eight games.
Vescoi sat extended minutes on the bench with foul trouble in Tennessee's 100-92 loss at North Carolina a week ago, finishing with four fouls and no points.
After the game, Barnes cited Vescovi's complacency and said that if Tennessee hadn't made a push in the second half to cut its deficit to seven down the stretch he may not have seen the floor again.
Vescovi responded with 7 points, four rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes against George Mason (7-2).
WATCH ON VOLREPORT: How trio of Vols performed in their return from injury
"Do I like the way as Santi responded today? I did," Barnes said. "I didn’t think the older guys were very good in practice yesterday. And I do hold those guys at a very high level. We’ve been together a long time. They know what our expectations are as a program. They know that it’s always gonna be about us and what we do every single day and what we do in the game (when) the lights come on. And I don’t want to waste any time this time of year and not get any better.”
Zeigler has had to adjust his role, too.
Coming off of an ACL tear that ended his season in February and sidelined him for several months, the junior guard has understandably not played to the level he was before his injury, but Barnes' decision to put him back into the starting rotation has led to more consistency over the last week.
At North Carolina, Zeigler tied season highs in points with 9 and minutes at 28. He hit shots in critical moments that allowed Tennessee to make a game of it in the second half after trailing by as many as 23 points in the first.
He followed it up with 6 points, six assists and two steals vs. George Mason.
"You know (Zeigler) is such a competitive person and his DNA, I mean, there is no doubt in my mind the entire time he was out, he truly thought he would be able to walk back out on the court and pick up exactly where he was," Barnes said. "I kept telling him, it’s not going to happen. You can’t miss 7-8 months, even as hard as you worked in the gym to get healthy. But also he worked on a lot of different things, as much as they would let him go. I mean, he went up 100%, but still you can’t miss that much. And he came back and again, because of who he is. He’s like a fire that just wants to roll and go. And he was trying way too hard. He was trying to do too much. But he didn’t do it out of being selfish. He just did it because that’s just how he thinks...I thought the second half of North Carolina, he started settling in...I know he was seeing the court tonight trying to get everyone involved. And do I think he’s back 100%? I don’t.
"Is he going to get closer to it? He will, but I think just mentally and emotionally, I think he’s getting into a good place knowing that what I said to him earlier— it’s going to take a little time, but he’s trying. And obviously we need him to be the player that we know he can be. And, there’s no doubt he’ll get there.”
WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Key takeaways: Tennessee's bigs dominate in win over George Mason
James has had a Tennessee career plagued by injuries, too, enough to keep him out through different stretches of the season at times.
This time last year, he missed much of the Vols' non-conference slate with lingering knee soreness following offeseason surgery but he is playing arguably his best basketball since arriving in Knoxville nearly five years ago.
James has been one of Tennessee's most consistent players, averaging 11.4 points per game, six rebounds and a 49.2% field goal shooting percentage. He took over stretches of the Vols' late rally attempt at North Carolina, finishing with 20 points and scored 15 against George Mason.
James is averaging 31 minutes per game and played 34 minutes in each of Tennessee's games at the Maui Invitational in Hawaii two weeks ago—more minutes than Barnes would like to play him, but he is making the most of it.
“I think maturity. (James) been around a long time and he understands the game and he understands what we’re trying to do," Barnes said. "But I just think that, he and Santi coming back, we expect a lot from them. Mostly, we talked about it earlier in the year, their leadership, but Josiah has played at an extremely high level in Hawaii and I thought North Carolina, (he) was the one guy that carried that over and really played too many minutes, but he still fought through it. He just gives us a different dimension."
–––––
– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.
– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.
– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @TMansfieldMedia, @ByNoahTaylor, @RealTBannerman, @RyanTSylvia, @Dale_Dowden, @ShayneP_Media, @TylerIvens, @Hunter_DeNote.
–––––
