NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - DUKE VS TENNESSEE

March 18, 2023

Rick Barnes

Olivier Nkamhoua

Santiago Vescovi

Amway Center

Tennessee Volunteers

Media Conference

Tennessee 65, Duke 52

RICK BARNES: We're really proud of our team, obviously. I thought their preparation and coming here this week -- regardless of what people on the outside might have thought, I know these guys have an extreme amount of pride and belief in each other, and they've worked hard to get themselves here, and they wanted to really come here and win this two-game tournament.

Really proud of them, and we obviously beat an outstanding team in Duke, and could sit here all day and rave about Jon Scheyer and what he's done with that program this year.

Olivier played great basketball today; certainly Santi does, what he does every night. Just a total team effort, and just really proud of our guys for what we've gone through the last month. I'll tell you what, no team deserves more than what's happened -- what these guys have gone out and earned this week, and I'm just so proud. As a coaching staff we're proud of them, and looking forward to getting going next week.

Q. Rick, you didn't mention Jonas Aidoo who in the first half looked like he gave you a big lift off the bench offensively and defensively. He's from Durham.

RICK BARNES: He is, that's true. Normally I don't like to call players by name because I said that I thought it was a great team effort. But Jonas did, he came in, his length was there. Defensively they do a lot of -- offensively they do a lot of really good things, and they can get you spread out. I really thought our ball screen defense had to be good. It was, but Jonas certainly had a presence around the rim.

But there wasn't one guy that went into that game for us today that didn't help us.

Q. Olivier, regardless of all the talent Duke has, when you see a team with that many freshmen and y'all have so many kind of big, physical older guys, was the scouting report basically let's get tough with these guys?

OLIVIER NKAMHOUA: That's what we do. We're a tough, hard-nosed team. That's how we play everybody. But knowing that they had a lot of freshmen, we knew that if we come in and apply more pressure and be tough and physical, then they would have to deal with it.

What we were saying before the game the whole time is we were going to bring them into the mud with us and make them play a tough, hard-nosed game and see if they were ready for it.

Q. You talked a lot yesterday about the rebounding, felt like that was going to be really important, and your guys won that battle today. How pivotal was that in getting the win?

RICK BARNES: It was. Just simply because what we have talked about all week is what we started the season talking about. We haven't changed really much in terms of our philosophy. We've had to mix and match some things, but we've said we're going to play great defense, we're going to rebound the ball. Not just defensively. We had a couple key offensive rebounds that were huge.

We can't be the team that we want to be defensively if we don't finish it with a rebound. And we knew with their length, they're the longest team in the country, that we were going to have to get great production from everybody, and we did.

Q. Olivier talked about and Jon talked about it yesterday the physicality. How much of that was an emphasis to come out from the opening tip and display that?

RICK BARNES: Well, we feel like we're at our best when we can do that. Really do. We know we play in a league where there's a premium placed on physicality certainly, but we wanted to be physical. Obviously didn't like the way it started with Uros, I didn't like any part of that, he gets too owe motional about it. We want to play within the rules in terms of -- as physical as we want to be, we don't want to foul.

But Duke is a really good defensive team. They do it a little bit different, but they're extremely effective with it. We felt ball pressure, our ball screen defense, we've talked about it, because they do a lot with it. But we also felt like it was important that we attack on the offensive end and try to get a little bit more of an up tempo game because they're very good at executing in the half court. And part of the physicality was to try to bring fatigue in by playing a quicker game.

Q. For the players, when you guys are able to get the opponent down into the mud with you, what does that do for you guys mentally in terms of knowing that this is our kind of game?

OLIVIER NKAMHOUA: We just know -- we prepare for a dogfight every game, so when we get people playing our game -- as a basketball team, you always want people to play your game. We want people to make -- you want get people playing at your pace. It just guarantees us that we're going to be in our element. We play through defense and then we figure it out on the offensive end.

So when we get guys stuck and we start making players do things that they're not used to doing, we wear them down and we just keep wearing them down. I feel like I said this earlier in the year where I said that people got to be ready for us where it's not going to be just one hit, it's going to be continuous hits.

And then the way you keep up with us is if you can just taking those hits and keep playing that tough game for 40 minutes. Because we come to play for 40 minutes, and we're going to bring them down to the mud for 40 minutes. It's tough, and some guys can hang and some guys can't.

Q. Rick, last year you were at that point where I think you were up 6 at the under-8 time-out against Michigan. You guys were in a really similar spot this time around. Did you harken back to that moment to think how can things be different?

RICK BARNES: Actually not. I'm glad I didn't. I didn't at all because this is a different team. Right from the beginning, I felt our guys were really locked in, and when you've got a day in between and you play the late game like we did -- obviously we got back yesterday and came in. But from the time we walked in this building yesterday, I could just sense our guys were going to be really locked in.

They knew what was at stake and what they were playing for, and certainly have a great deal of respect for Duke and how they do things.

But it's a different team, and we handled it at the end. They went zone. I bet we haven't practiced -- well, we have a little bit because we've got a zone that we play, but very little. But we knew at some point in time they would go zone, whether it was to slow us down or whether it would be to maybe give them a little bit of break at that end.

Certainly when Roach going into foul trouble, that was a factor in the game and trying to protect him.

But these guys, we kept it real simple. We want to play through him in the middle. Santi knows what he's doing on the perimeter. But the zone too gave us a chance to get our legs back under us. Where I thought that the key was that if we could finish the game -- every time-out, I asked Santi many times during the game, what are thinking, what do you want to do. But the thought always goes back that we've got to finish the game defensively.

I thought with them going zone a little bit, it allowed us to be a little bit more effective on the defensive end those last four minutes, because they're explosive and they can score on you quickly. But again, this is a different group of guys, and I thought they handled it great today.

We struggled some games coming down the stretch here obviously without Zakai, but each game I feel like we've gotten better with what we have right now.

Q. Santi, your journey, to be sitting here after your journey, NBA Academy, I think you were even learning English at that time, what does it mean to you to have the performance you did on this stage considering everything, how you got here?

SANTIAGO VESCOVI: First of all, I've got to say I'm definitely thankful to both the NBA Academy and University of Tennessee for giving me the chance. Here from South America, basketball is big, but not that big down there. And having the chance that they gave me definitely -- first of all learning the language to where I'm at right now is definitely -- it's been a massive change.

Then the other thing, too, is, for example, Duke had a player from the NBA Academy, too, Tyrese Proctor. He was a young kid when he got in the academy. I was on my way out already, but we got to share. We were roommates for the last, whatever, six months I think it was there, and it was a great experience.

Being able to see all those guys coming back and playing against each other at the high level here, I think it's great. And like I said, I think it's just amazing how the NBA Academy and the University of Tennessee or Duke give the opportunity to kids like that that have a dream, that want to work hard every single day and bring whatever they can to the team.

Q. After losing your starting point guard during the season, then coming into the tournament with two big statement wins, I just want to know what do you guys attribute this dog mentality that you guys have been playing with to?

RICK BARNES: Are you asking me that? We talked about it. We train hard. We work hard. I really -- many, many teams work really, really hard. But if you could be with us and be with these guys over the last four years with what we've gone through. But the work ethic they put into it, and we say it all the time, let's trust our training, let's trust each other, and I think we're built for the way we play.

I think these guys, they certainly believe in each other. And we've got -- I'm sitting here looking at this stat sheet, and O had a day today which he's capable of having and can consistently. I'm looking at Josiah, he has the ability to do what he did today. Santi.

We've got different guys and they've all done it at different points in time. I do believe these guys have a terrific belief in each other, and they respect each other at the highest level.

Q. Olivier, you guys went through the drought in the first half and then you closed on that run. How much momentum did that give you headed into the locker room? How key do you think that was?

OLIVIER NKAMHOUA: I think it was big. Whenever you go through those droughts, I think the good thing for us as a team is the fact that we rely on our defense more than anything else. So we can just keep playing defense and keep being the same tough hard-nosed team.

But to have that kind of boost at the end of the half going into the locker room, it brings a lot of energy, good momentum, and just gives you that confidence coming in the second half.

But then at the same time, whether or not we're coming in the locker room with that momentum or without, because of our defensive mentality, I feel like we're always going to be ready to play. And we don't necessarily need like a motivation boost like that, but for any team it's always good to have that going into a half.

Q. Olivier, did you feel like there was -- the outside world was saying Duke was the prohibitive favorite in this game? Did you hear any of that outside noise?

OLIVIER NKAMHOUA: No.

Q. 23 points in that second half, playing with a lot of confidence. Was there a moment where it kind of clicked for you in that second half there?

OLIVIER NKAMHOUA: Well, in the locker room, my guys saw me, I was a little bit antsy because I didn't get to play in the first half, so I just came in ready to play. I had fresh legs. I feel like that gave me a little bit of extra edge. I was probably the only guy on the floor with fresh legs, so...

Q. Santi, everyone knows sort of the way the final few weeks of the regular season went for this team. Sometimes that doesn't matter going into this tournament, sometimes it does. What made you feel like this team would be able to go do something like this despite not having Zakai, despite some of those losses?

SANTIAGO VESCOVI: All you've got to do is two things. One, watch the way we practice. We're a really united team. Second of all, as a player, you just look to the side, and everybody trusts each other. We're a man down, but we always have the mentality of next man up. And I couldn't trust more the guys that I have around me, the coaches. I think they all did a great job, and even the last couple weeks I think they were just building us up to this moment and getting us prepared for the tournament.