Tennessee Basketball HC Rick Barnes Reflects on 83-62 Win Over Louisville

Rick Barnes speaks to the media following a home win.

Dec 16, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes during the first half against the Louisville Cardinals at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

The Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Louisville Cardinals at home on Tuesday night.

Head coach Rick Barnes would meet with the press after the 83-62 victory for the Vols.

What enabled Tennessee to force more turnovers tonight in comparison to previous games

Dec 16, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Conwell (3) looks to move the ball against Tennessee Volunteers guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie (0) during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

“Well, again, I think you’ve got to give it to the players. I think we’ve proven, we haven’t consistently proven. I mean, we had a game like that against Houston obviously, where we were on point. We had some other games, but it’s still a group of younger guys. I mean, we’ve got so many young guys that are learning what this is about, there’s no doubt, and I didn’t think at any point in time getting ready for this season we would have two freshmen in the starting lineup, like we have. And the ones we have coming off the bench. I’ve told you guys all along, we’re really excited about our younger players, our freshman class.

But I thought Ethan (Burg) made some big time plays tonight. I thought Mo (Amaree Abram) did. I thought a key part of the game was, you know, the last four minutes of the first half when we were in foul trouble, had a group of guys out there that hadn’t been in that situation ever and they were able to not surrender the lead and give us a little bit of margin there. But overall, really proud of everyone and I’m happy because I know how hard they’ve worked the last 10 days and won a game against an outstanding team, an extremely well-coached team. A hard team to guard. Very hard team to guard because they really had a great scheme. They really do a lot of tough stuff that is really difficult to guard,” Barnes explained.

Defensive Consistency from Felix Okpara

Dec 16, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers center Felix Okpara (34) blocks a shot from Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Conwell (3) during the second half at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

“Well, I love him to death, and again, I just know when once he settles in to do that, I think if I were him, I’d know that that’s my ticket to get where he wants to go. Because he can impact games and everybody can use a guy like that. I don’t care what team you are; you get a guy to come out to and play with that kind of energy and impact the ball at the ball screen and rebound like he does, and he can score the ball, he can, he can do it. And block shots. And we need him to almost have the attitude that, hey, he’s a senior, he’s been here two years now, that hey, this is my team, and I need to do this every night,” Barnes said.

Click HERE to watch and listen to everything Tennessee basketball head coach Rick Barnes said following an 83-62 home win over Louisville

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