What Rick Barnes said after No. 16 Tennessee fell in a 78-65 loss to LSU on Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge:
ABOUT DEFENSIVE FAULTS
“I think the defense is one-on-one. I think we usually do a good job of guarding sets. We just didn’t do a very good job with our one-on-one defense. We never want to leave someone alone on an island to do that. I don’t think we did a good job of filling in the blanks to help. I also felt that because our attack was not what we wanted it to be, it hurt our defense today as well. To keep the pressure there, feel that you need to score when they fall. But again, the one-on-one defense was not very good. So, we made a foul on snipers a few times when we didn’t need to do that. I just didn’t feel it, I didn’t get it right. In fact, I don’t think we heard it today. I think our team, young people are not learning, obviously, and you know that. The only game you play will not be the same in the next game, or perhaps the game after it. We told them that you would not be able to drive and turn, because we know that people will come to do that. It took us a long time to adjust to that.
“But we still need more players. We can’t trust, or ask, Keon and Jaden basically to protect the best players from the other team for the most part, then go down and end up with the ball in their hands because the other guys aren’t trying to get involved. And we are not performing the way we want to. “