Everything Tennessee Basketball HC Rick Barnes and Nate Ament Said After Loss to Kansas

Rick Barnes and Nate Ament speak to the media after Tennessee fell to Kansas.

Nov 26, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes looks on in the second half against the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2025 Players Era Festival third place game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Tennessee Volunteers basketball team suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Kansas during the Players Era Festival.

The Jayhawks would defeat the Vols 81-76 inside the MGM Grand Center in Las Vegas, Nevada,

Just prior to this loss, the Vols had the pleasure of upsetting a top 5 program, as Tennessee handed Houston a loss.

Following the loss to Kansas, head coach Rick Barnes and F Nate Ament would join the press to answer questions about the game.

Did Kansas Make Vols Settle

Nov 26, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Tennessee Volunteers forward Nate Ament (10) shoots in the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2025 Players Era Festival third place game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

“No, we settled, we can get in the lane. We’ve proven that. But we settled. I told our post guys when they’re out there shooting jump shots, I’m sure Bill and his staff were sitting on the bench saying, good let them do it. Let him. We don’t want them in there.

That goes back to where we didn’t follow the things we talked about and what we need guys to do. You look at the offensive rebound between Felix and Cade; they didn’t have one today. We’ve got to have more than that, out of those guys.

It’s frustrating when we needed to get some baskets, again. I thought we had some looks at it, we just didn’t make it. I’m not even talking threes. Most of the threes I would say were okay, but some of them obviously we should have been thinking time and score but also knowing that we had them in the double-bonus. We should have been trying to drive and to get to the foul line where they did a great job.

They shot 26 of 30 and we were 17 of 22 and we should have been up around the 30-attempt mark if we would have driven the ball with authority the way we should have,” Barnes explained.

Did Offense Impact Defense

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes watches from the sidelines during a NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game between Tennessee and Kentucky at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Thursday, March 27, 2025. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, you start missing shots around the basket, and Ja’Kobi (Gillespie) has played a lot of minutes while he’s been here for three days, and again, he had some great looks, didn’t go down.

But we can’t get where we’re putting everything on him. Some of those other shots that you’ve got to come up with or get fouled when you’re certainly like him struggling from the three. But you look at the stat sheet, too many guys that honestly didn’t do the things that they need to do to help us win.”

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