Tennessee's Rick Barnes Had Wildest Betting Joke After Team's Bad Passes vs. Auburn

Rick Barnes had jokes after Tennessee was not sharp in their win over Auburn.

Rick Barnes had a funny joke after Tennessee’s turnover issues in their win over Auburn. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee earned their 15th win of the season on Saturday by defeating Auburn 77-69, but it wasn’t necessarily pretty.

The Volunteers were not sharp with their passing throughout the game and committed 15 turnovers in the win. They rank last in the SEC in turnovers per game, and this marked their ninth straight matchup with double-digit turnovers.

The passing issues led to head coach Rick Barnes saying after the game, “At the end of the game some of the passes that we throw, I don’t know what to say other than sometimes I wonder if my guys are betting on games.”

This was an all-timer by Rick Barnes 😂

I asked him about the team’s heightened focus and it ends with him talking about certain questionable bad passes.

“Sometimes I wonder if my guys are betting on games.” pic.twitter.com/1Q5Au3008b

— Paige Dauer (@PaigeDauerFDP) February 1, 2026

Barnes continued, “I shouldn’t say that. Erase that. ... I wonder what’s happened. I know we’re too good of players to do that. ... I apologize. I shouldn’t have said that. But the fact is, we’ve got to get smarter.”

Given that 26 people—including multiple NCAA players—were charged for an alleged college basketball game-fixing scheme earlier this month, Barnes’s joke certainly didn’t come at the best time, and he was well aware.

With the win, the Volunteers move to 15-6 on the season and 5-3 in conference play. They rank sixth in the SEC standings, behind Texas A&M, Florida, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Kentucky.

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