Tennessee defeated Alabama-Huntsville 96-83 on Friday night in Rick Barnes‘ first exhibition game as head coach.
Armani Moore led the Vols with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Punter chipped in 25 points and a team-leading five assists.
RICK BARNES PRESS CONFERENCE OPENING STATEMENT
“There were some good things that we did. Obviously we’ve got to figure out some other things. We know that we are going to play a lot through Kevin [Punter] and Armani [Moore]. We simply, defensively, we weren’t very good. They had a lot to do with that. They’re a well-coached team, extremely well-coached. Between our scrimmage with Davidson and Alabama-Huntsville, we went against teams with two great coaches, teams that execute. Really, they can embarrass you in some ways because of the way they move and cut. But overall, again we got tired, which that’s something that we’ve got to figure out, the rotation a little bit more and keeping guys fresh. We actually, a couple guys cramped up. We’ve got to continue to get better and more guys on the offensive end have got to continue to improve. But we’ve got to get a whole lot better than what we’re doing right now on the defensive end.”
FULL PRESS CONFERENCE