Vols earn Sweet win over ’Horns
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The NCAA Tournament is about the players.
It, too, is often about the coaches.
And, in the case of Saturday night’s tense 62-58 Tennessee win over Texas in the second-round game at the Spectrum Center, this was definitely about Vols coach Rick Barnes.
Tennessee’s first-round win over Saint Peter’s on Thursday wasn’t an hour old before Barnes was staring at a scenario he had zero interest in facing: Texas in the second round.
Barnes’ Vols had just completed their lopsided victory over Saint Peter’s and his reward was a second-round game against the school he coached from 1998 to 2015 and a coach, Rodney Terry, who was an assistant for him from 2002-2011 and remains a close friend.
“I think if you ask both of us would we rather be playing someone else, the answer would be yes,” the 69year-old Barnes said before the game. “Those guys [at Texas] probably know me as well as anybody. They know how I think. It is tough when you are playing against guys that have ... been a part of my career for a long time.’’
Once the ball was tipped, Barnes and his No. 2-seeded Vols (26-8) shook off those emotions and took care of business, but not without some serious stress.
Texas turned what looked like a game that Tennessee appeared to have total control of into a thriller in the end, but the Vols survived and advanced to a Sweet 16 matchup against the winner of Saturday’s late game between Oregon and Creighton next week.
“I have the utmost respect for the University of Texas, and the fact that so many guys on that bench have been a huge part of my life,’’ Barnes said after the game.
Barnes praised his team’s resilience, saying, “I’m so proud of the way they stayed with it on a night where we just struggled shooting the ball.’’
The fact that Tennessee led 28-19 despite having shot only 28.6-percent (10-of-35) from the field, including 1-of-13 from 3-point range, was not a good sign for the Longhorns. Yet Texas never gave in, either, and turned the game into a triller in the end with its game comeback.
Barnes was emotional after the game, because of his connections to Texas and because of his connections to North Carolina.
“My first year in college coaching was at Davidson as a volunteer assistant [in 1978], and we played at the old Charlotte Coliseum and won the Charlotte Invitational, beat Brown,’’ he recalled. “I still have the watch we got that says we were Charlotte Invitational champions. I said [to the team] this week, ‘We’re in the Charlotte Invitational Tournament right now.’ ’’
After 17 largely successful years at Texas, he was fired for not getting the Longhorns deeper into the NCAA Tournament. Of course, that hurt. But Barnes insisted he has no regrets not hard feelings.
“Coming to Tennessee was a blessing, I just didn’t know it at the time,” Barnes, who’s guided the Vols to six consecutive NCAA tournaments now a third Sweet 16 berth, said. “It’s a special place. I’ve been blessed from the time I’ve gotten there. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to be in a position where my career will end.”