NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - LONGWOOD VS TENNESSEE

March 17, 2022

Rick Barnes

Santiago Vescovi

John Fulkerson

Josiah-Jordan James

Kennedy Chandler

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Tennessee Volunteers

Media Conference

Tennessee 88, Longwood 56

RICK BARNES: First of all, really like to congratulate Longwood University on a great year, and what Coach Aldridge does with his program and what it stands for is really something that we should all be proud of in college basketball.

But with that said, getting for them, I was concerned because I think they do a lot of wonderful things on the offensive end. Start of the game we have been a pretty good ball screen defense but had he were getting pretty much what they wanted out of it and we decided to go with a switching defense which bogged them down a bit and then offensively we were patient, working, and we had to work, they make you do that, they do a great job getting in the gaps.

But proud of the approach our guys took getting ready for this game and now it's on to the next one.

Q. For Josiah-Jordan James, in the first half, Coach Barnes called a time-out, right around the 14-minute mark and you guys went on a hot streak when it comes to shooting. What did you guys talk about, maybe locking down on that defense that led to more scoring on offense?

JOSIAH-JORDAN JAMES: Yeah, that was his message was just talking about getting stops on defense. We knew our offense was going to take care of itself. We weren't really having too much struggle on that end.

But it was just talking about getting stops, and having our stops and defense lead to better shots on offense, and that's what we did.

Q. Any extra energy coming into today considering that you had to watch from the sidelines a year ago?

JOHN FULKERSON: I wasn't even really worried about that. I was just worried about executing our game plan and focusing on our task at hand.

Q. What got you going on the threes today and was that something you thought you would be able to attack with them defensively?

SANTIAGO VESCOVI: I think definitely my teammates, they are the one that is got me going. They always find me in the right spot at the right time. I think I couldn't have been able to get all those shots if it wasn't for them, try and get the offense from me and the right time and the right spot.

So I think it all started on defense when we started to lock a little more, play more aggressive and on offense, we were trying to get the right shot every time, so I wasn't really worried about myself. But then the shots came so I had to take them.

Q. A lot of times in those opening rounds, you see teams be a little sluggish out of the game and you, a team that doesn't have a lot of NCAA experience, were locked in from the start. What do you attribute that to?

JOSIAH-JORDAN JAMES: I feel like learning from what happened last year. We were one of those teams who just thought things were going to happen. We weren't really playing desperate.

We just talked this week leading up to this game, being the more desperate team and knowing that every team in this tournament is a championship team, and so you can't take anything for granted. I felt like we did a good job in preparing for that.

Q. Did shootaround yesterday feel particularly good for you guys, or was it something that clicked when the game started?

JOSIAH-JORDAN JAMES: I wouldn't say it felt different than any other team we just go to the gym and shootaround. Each one of us up here and everybody in the locker room, we work tirelessly day-in and day-out. We just try to do what we practice, shoot the shots that we work on daily, and so I think we are just able to make it because of our work in the time that we put into the gym.

Q. What led to so much production for you early on in those first couple of minutes and then for Josiah and Santi, how much did John's production open up things for you in the perimeter?

JOHN FULKERSON: I give credit to my teammates because they were getting me the ball in the best position to score and just trying to execute.

Q. How much fun is it to play in this offense when the ball is flying around the perimeter the way that it was today and everyone is getting the ball to everyone else in good positions to make shots?

SANTIAGO VESCOVI: For sure I think it's really fun to play this way where you know everybody on the team is just focused in on winning. I think it's really fun whenever we start moving and everybody starts moving off the ball and on offense, too. That's what we are playing our best basketball.

Instead of just everybody standing still and watching the ball, play one-on-one, I think we did a great job of that, especially knowing that they were going to switch everything off the ball.

Like I said, I trust all my teammates making decisions with the ball, and if the shot is for them, they are going to take it, and if it is for us, we are going to take them and I think they did a great job today.

Q. In the first half, the Kennedy, you threw back to Santi and that three started four straight for you, and I think 7-of-8 to end the half. What did you see in that play, were you thinking trying to get Santi a clean look, and what did that shot do for you the rest of the half?

KENNEDY CHANDLER: For me, Coach always tells me push the ball. I saw the paint was pretty packed and I'm always looking for my shooter on the wing, either Josiah or Santi. Santi always runs the court very well. I saw him in the wing. He's a great shooter, and he knocked it down. That's the thing in practice we know run the court everyone and sprint down the court get ready to shoot the ball and me kick it out to them.

SANTIAGO VESCOVI: I think like I said before, all my teammates do a great job for decision-making with the ball every single time. They are going to find the open guy every single time in. That case, K.C. did it and he found me. I think it always feels good when you see the first one going in, just kind of getting a rhythm.

After that, my teammates did a great job still finding me when I was open. So just got to say that it was due to my teammates.

Q. What do you say to the fans who all traveled up here? What do you think about all the fans supporting you?

KENNEDY CHANDLER: You know, we love our fans. They really support us, and I feel like we have the best fans in the country. They support us every single game. Either it's here or for them to watch it at home. Everybody that traveled here to watch us play we thank them for the support and we can't wait to see them again on Saturday.

JOHN FULKERSON: On behalf of me and my teammates, we are all very appreciative of all VolNation. We know VolNation is the best fans in the country and to me, being here for so long that, was honestly no surprise to me, seeing how many fans we have here. On behalf of me and my teammates, we really appreciate that, all the love and support they give us, and we need them to keep coming out and supporting.

JOSIAH-JORDAN JAMES: Ditto.

SANTIAGO VESCOVI: Ditto. Whatever they said.

Q. For John -- Santi, you can chime in also. You guys had such a big win last week and such a huge week for you. What was the mindset going in this week? Were you trying to capitalize off the big in, or was it a matter of resetting and refocusing?

JOHN FULKERSON: I think a little bit of both. Definitely keeping the momentum going and not changing anything we are doing. But we have a lot of goals throughout the season and that was one of our goals and then like you said, refocusing, resetting and starting to focus on Longwood.

SANTIAGO VESCOVI: Like John said, I think it was a little bit of both, keeping the good vibes, knowing that what we are doing works, I think was really important.

But at the same time, change our mindset and focus on what we have now. I think we did a super quick turnaround. We could have been still celebrating what we did in the SEC Tournament and I think everybody's mindset was in the right position. Everybody got a quick turnaround and everybody started focusing on what we have now.

Q. You've been strong defensively all year. How happy are you with your play?

RICK BARNES: What we have been able to do is make some adjustments with this group because of the ability that Josiah has to play, where we can go to a switching lineup, and even today, we were doing it a couple times with guys that we normally wouldn't do that with because when we started the game, and again, Longwood is so well-coached, and they are so disciplined, and they really put you in some really tough situations. We started the game trying not to switch but they were really -- because we wanted to defend the three-point line. We are normally a heavy gap team on the ball screen, and we were concerned about the -- because they read it so well. They are just so well-coached.

We felt like that, again, probably around the 14-minute, 15-minute mark, we started switching everything, pretty much everything.

I thought our big guys did a really good job for us. But we tried to be the best we can be defensively every night, and do I think we can get better? I think this team of year, you have to always think you can get better.

Q. What has VJ done to change his game the last four weeks and become a more consistent rotational player?

RICK BARNES: You know, again, because we were playing small and we wanted to stay fresh and stay aggressive but VJ, as I said before, he's never let's go off the rope. He keeps -- he's locked in to what we want him to do defensively and I thought he really made some really good decisions with the ball today, moving the basketball. And the fact is, as a coaching staff, we have confidence in him. But really, probably more important, his teammates do.

We are in a situation in the last game, and Josiah, we were discussing some guys who we might think about putting in the game and Josiah piped up right away and said, put VJ in the game and we didn't even hesitate once Josiah said that. I think it's a real compliment to VJ that the guys that have been with him the longest have that confidence in him.

Q. Don't have a ton of NCAA experience on your team; did you worry about pregame jitters?

RICK BARNES: I guess I'm concerned about all that because there's just so many thoughts that go through your mind. But with that said, you know, we are very transparent with our team about scenarios that happen, and we actually talked about the last time we were in this same situation right here with Wright State, we came out and showed -- that team was a good defensive team but came out totally doing not what we had done to get to us that point. And then we finally, around the 12-minute mark around that game, we started doing the things that we needed to do and got a nice win.

So we just said, said, hey, let's be ready to go from the beginning. Let's be who we are. Let's do what we have done to get us here. Let's trust each other, trust what we do.

And I think Josiah, certainly Santi, and I thought Kennedy today was really locked in there, too. But I thought Brandon was, because he knew he was going to have to play on the perimeter more, and Uros looked very winded to start with and when John came in, he definitely impacted the game quickly on the offensive end.

But it goes back to, I think, guys that have been in it, what we were up against, and again, have great respect for Longwood.

Q. I asked the players the same kind of question. You call a time-out right there around the 15-minute mark and seemed like you were agitated with the defense. What went into that conversations, what did you see when they first kind of started because then all of a sudden your team started hitting it from outside the perimeter.

RICK BARNES: Well, that was the situation where Uros blew two coverages, and that's really what we talked about, and he wasn't -- I don't know, again, exactly why he did what he did. I mean, I thought he really struggled to start the game.

I think he might have gotten hit a little bit. But we blew two ball screen coverages where it was nonexistent, and that's why I called the time-out to get that back organized.

Q. Going back to John, you did turn to him off the bench pretty early there. Specifically what did you see from him early on that gave y'all the spark?

RICK BARNES: Well, we went with it because again like I said, Uros looked like he struggled physically to get up and down the floor and John came in and they started out as you would think guarding Santi almost like a take-out situation and as well as Santi shot today, he did a great job passing the ball. But when they were spread out, again, I do think people respect our shooting and Fulke gets some space in there. Got some good assists from his teammates.

Again, I told him that he -- defensively, too, because when we start switching it was putting those guys on whoever it might be. But Fulke definitely I thought was locked in ready to play.

Q. You talked a lot about players taking the shots that they play in practice. Is what you have seen from your guards in the last month what you were talking about?

RICK BARNES: When you see the assists, when we are moving the ball -- again, you go back when I was getting agitated at the end. We were -- too many guys setting on the ball too much and trying to dribble through a team that's, I'm telling you, a really solid defensive team.

And when we move the ball and we move the parts, that's when we play our best basketball. We have got guys that can pass and we have got guys that can cut and move without the ball. It's when we get stagnant is when we bog down. Yeah, I would say that now we are at the top where we are really getting the shots that we practice.

Q. I know there's more time to think about this obviously moving forward, but first impression, how different a game are you looking at here going from Longwood to the size and athleticism of Michigan?

RICK BARNES: It's very different, no doubt it's a different game. To be quite honest with you, I won't allow myself to even think who we are going to play next, I just won't. Because now I have -- we put a lot of thought into Longwood because we respected them that much and what they did.

But obviously our coaches have been working on it, and we know that they are big, and there's no doubt they are going to pound it in there. It's going to take a great team effort, not only from our post players doing their work early and doing their job, but the guards helping, because we have always believed that post defense starts on the perimeter. We'll have to have a great team effort.