On the identity of the team:
“I don’t know if I have a grasp other than the fact that I think it’s been a fun team to be around and a fun team to coach in the fact that they’re working in the direction that we want to go. We still have a lot of young guys that are still learning the details of some things and the importance of some things, but their attitudes have been terrific and we need to get everybody as healthy as we can before we get into it. It’s been a fun group to be with and I just think it’s going to be a group that’s fun to be with as the year goes on.”

On how Lamonte Turner has grown over the past few years:
“I think probably the biggest difference—and I believe that any of our coaches that were here would talk about this—is his everyday preparation. Trying to make every day a good day in terms of his focus in practice and not only concerned about himself, but thinking a lot about his teammates. He knows that our team will obviously have a different dynamic, but he also understands how he has to be a positive leader and I don’t think he is wrapped up in himself at all. I think he is totally concerned with what he can do to make each individual a better player. I know how much he wants to win and he is as competitive as any player that we’ve coached since we’ve been here. Really his single day approach for practice and how hard he tries to being it every day has really been impressive.”

On replacing front court scoring:
“We do feel like we have some inside guys that have the ability to score, but I think we go back to a couple years ago, I said the same thing about Grant Williams and some other guys, it does take them time to understand how they have to play in tight space and can’t mess with the ball in certain areas on the court. It’s up to us as a coaching staff to continue to work at putting guys in those situations because we do feel like we have guys that can score, we just have to get them in the right place and have to be patient with them because early (on) they’re going to make some mistakes by probably being in too big of a hurry. We do think we have post guys that do a really good job of handling the ball and can pass out the traps if that’s what happens. The biggest thing is just to get them to understand how they have to be able to operate in tight spaces.”

On getting back on the court with lots of newcomers on the team:
“It’s always exciting when you get going, especially when you have a group of guys that you enjoy being around. I can tell you as a coaching staff, we enjoy these guys because they’ve proven to us starting back at the end of last year and then when the new guys came in, the way they really took these young guys under their wings and really tried to teach them what it’s going to be like and the way we try to do things here and that’s been a fun part. To see these guys help the younger guys and see the younger guys embrace it. That part of it has been fun and then once you get going with the season, now you’re trying to put it together and there are a lot of things that you continue to try to clean up, a lot of the detailed things that the younger players probably don’t quite understand yet, but that’s part of it when you start over with certain players. It’s been a good group, they do want to be a good basketball team, they do want to learn and I think they really like each other which is a big thing.”

On how he plans to use Josiah-Jordan James:
“We’ll use him in any and every way that we have to because he’s the kind of player that I (is) very versatile, I think he’s kind of an unselfish person that’s willing to do whatever you ask him to do, whatever his teammates need him to do, but I think we’ll use him every way that you can possibly think about using a guy, because he’s that versatile that playing the point, playing off the ball, doing whatever, he’s always going to try to make winning plays. He loves to pass the ball, maybe to a fault right now, that’s something that we’re trying to get himself to understand. He needs to look for his shot a little bit more than he already has done, but his instincts have always been ‘what can I do to run the team and get my teammates in places where they can score and get better,’ which is a great trait to have for anybody that’s a lead guard. But we do think that he has to get a little bit more of a scoring mentality.”

On if fans can expect the same style of play with new crop of guys
“I think they will see the base package of what we do and the things that we believe in, but I think every year, and even throughout the year you start tweaking things, changing things. You go into every year with a thought process as a coaching staff of how you want the team to play, and what you think they need to do, but you also go into it by not putting players in boxes. They might start surprising you with some things, and we’ve actually thrown some things out there that we’re not sure we’re going to use or not use, but sometimes they might make us do some things that we didn’t think we would, or plan on doing early. So, players have a lot to do with your style of play. We will be different in some areas, there’s no doubt about it, but you know some of the things that we do on offense will be a little bit different, but I think you’ll see a lot of the same base packages we’ve used (before). Defensively, you have to work hard with young players to get them to understand the team concepts that you’re putting in, whether its ball screen defense, help side defense, whatever it may be. We want to be a team that is hard to guard on the offensive end, we want to be a team that you have to prepare for, make it a difficult job to prepare for us. But, we also know that our players make all that really work, and so we do spend a lot of time trying to figure out that our guys can do individually, and then try to build on that. Going back to the question about inside, we’ve got some guys that we think can score, but we know that every day we have to spend time to help them grow, because a lot of them have scored in different ways, and I don’t think that some of that can happen here, or in college basketball. So, we are just trying to look at each of them, and they might make us change our offense or defense by what they do, and we hope that happens to be quite frank.”

On the background, recruiting, and early returns of Olivier Nkamhoua
“We knew a year ago the possibility of losing guys early, it’s real every year, you have to be prepared and have a plan. We knew as the season went on last year that we wanted to add a couple of frontcourt players, and Kim English, at the time was at Colorado, and he and Mike Schwartz had worked together and were terrific friends, and Kim had called Mike and said he had seen a young man play, he said he was a terrific offensive rebounder and somebody that we should look at. And Coach Schwartz jumped on it, and from the first time he laid eyes on him, he said this is who we want, so the staff worked hard trying to get him here. We’re excited about him. He’s talented, one of those players learning that it’s a different game, and that he does have the ability to score, but like all players, he has to learn how to get down lower, how to fight for space on the floor. He can’t just walk over and get where he could a year ago, he’s going to have to really fight for it, because he’s playing against a guy like Yves Pons every day, who’s going to fight him for every step, but he’s improved a lot. And all of our guys have improved, but he’s really figured out the fact (that) he wants to be a good player. And he knows he has to add some things to what he’s doing right now, as all players do, but it takes some of them longer to figure out, and he’s figured out early what we need him to do. They all come in with the idea of what they want to do, a big part of coaching is getting them to understand what you need them to do, and helping them to continue to stretch their game and grow. But, he’s starting to really understand what we need from him.”

On the impact of bringing Kim English on staff
“When you have a staff, I think the coaches have to all be involved in it. I have always wanted to have people on staff that are guys that have played for me, guys that I really personally know, guys that my staff really know, because I don’t think you want to experiment with chemistry and that stuff. I think it’s important, just like recruiting, you’ve got to dig into that. I’ve always relied on our coaches, because they spend more time together than probably with me on a daily basis with everything. Kim has added a lot, he’s young and energetic, can still play, and I think the fact that he’s made such a quick impact with our players, they trust him, is really important. I think they respect where he has been and what he has done, but I think more than anything like our staff, we are very much a hands on staff. We love being with our guys. When practice is over every day, we have dinner in our locker room, and as a staff we’re there with them, because we really enjoy being around these guys. I’m excited about our staff and he has been a great addition. He’s been everything you could want and more.”

On Josiah’s feel on the point guard position in comparison to Jordan Bone and if the position will be split between James and Turner
“I can tell you that all summer Josiah spent his entire time learning that position because it’s the most demanding position that we have on our team. I thought he made great strides with it. This summer we were making sure Lamonté got healthy, and Josiah’s had to deal with a groin injury. To answer your question about feel, he has great feel. To answer your question about the minutes, I like to think that whoever those guys…I want to move them around because I don’t want any to get locked in because I think defenses can really game plan for them. How it breaks down minutes-wise and who is there most of all, I don’t know who it’s going to be. I really don’t. I know that we’re counting on the both of those guys to play a lot of minutes, and I think they’re really going to complement each other. I’d like to hope that even our third perimeter out there—I’d like to think that he’s capable of running the point at times. I think the more you can move players around, it makes them more effective. I like the versatility. If you’re at practice today you’re going to see Jordan Bowden playing the point against Lamonte Turner because Josiah won’t practice today. I think that benefits Jordan Bowden probably as much as anybody. So, in terms of minutes, I’m not really sure how that’s going to play out.”

On if Barnes is preparing the team any differently based on the NCAA rules adjustments to the three-point line into effect over the summer
“It’s back, and obviously we’re going to play back off that line. It extends our defense. We normally play with our heels on that line defensively. Offensively, we want to use that line for our spacing. So, it does open up the court a little bit more. One thing we worked on really hard and continue to work on is corner shots so guys don’t step out of bounds because it is back there. It’s not as far back as the NBA line, but it’s there. I think you’ll see that a lot early in the year in college basketball—guys running back in that corner area and stepping out of bounds a little bit. I don’t think I’ve seen it affect shooting that much. I think nationally, what’s happened in the past, is the national average will probably go down just a little bit, but it will come back up and probably be better than it was. Players do a great job of adjusting to that. Again, I was in favor of that rule. The only thing I really wish is that we could find a way to figure out how to not have different lines on the floor. I think it’s difficult. I think it’s probably harder for the women because wherever we go, we practice on an NBA court. We seem to play off the NBA line, which in some ways make it even a little more spacious out there. Players seem to play off the line that’s further back. That’s something that everybody will have to deal with for a while because there will be two lines on most courts.”

On Jordan Bowden and the need for him to be a consistent scorer for the team
“We’ve had a conversation with him for four years now. He knows about being consistent, and you’d like to think that going into his senior year. We don’t want him to put his whole mindset on scoring the basketball. We want him to be a complete player. We think that he can affect games on the defensive end. We do want him to understand that he’s going to probably be in the game playing a little bit different this year than he has been in the past. I mean, people did pay attention to him, but not to the extent people will this year. So, that’s going to be really important. He’s worked hard to get better. He’s worked hard physically to improve his body, and he practices very hard every day. He always has. We’d like to see him become more vocal. I don’t want to use the term ‘get out of his comfort zone’ because I don’t think he’s afraid to do that from a physical standpoint. I think it’s probably more of a mentality. We want him to get more aggressive mentally in a lot of different areas—not just shooting the ball but just in the way he does everything. He’s such a wonderful person, and everybody loves him, but sometimes you’ve got to come outside that personality when you’re between those lines. I think we all want to see him do that more consistently than what he has done.”

On how Barnes feels about the transition to a more guard-heavy team and his status on finding out who is going to be first off the bench
“I do have confidence in our team, I do. I like this group of guys, and I think they are grasping better right now. Yesterday was a day that as a coaching staff we tried to create havoc, confusion and chaos to see how they would respond. [It was] quick with a lot of talking going on at one time just to create some confusion to see how well we could focus and stay grounded where we needed to be. I thought for the first day that we really tried to do that at a very high level. I thought the guys did a good job with it overall. In terms of the rotations, I could see that changing. Davonte Gains broke his thumb. He’s our right now and will be out for a couple more weeks. We get Josiah back. I do think that Jalen Johnson is working hard to be a person that we can count on. Depending on how things work out with Uros will determine really how much we will be able to play Yves Pons inside or outside to where we want him to maybe get a little bit bigger. He’s spent most of his time learning a new position this year, but we know he can go back the other way if need be. We need Zach Kent; we need all these guys right now. We’ve watched the last couple weeks with a couple guys being out. Drew Pember’s been out a lot. He’s been in practice the last couple days. He’s shown the instincts that we saw when we were recruiting him. It’s a whole new game for him learning how hard it is [and] how physical it is [and] how demanding every possession is [and] how to go from one play to the next play to the next play. He just does some instinctive things that impress you. He going to have to be a guy too that learns probably every position on the floor except probably the point right now, so he’s a guy that we could swing in probably a couple different ways. We do have good length—that’s the one thing you see in practice with our size out there—deflecting more balls right now because of the length of our front-line guys. You look at it, when Josiah’s out there and when Davonte gets back out there and Drew. That’s 6’10, 6’6 and 6’7 long wing spans. That way it does change us a little bit. As we go, I don’t know when, I don’t know what the time table will be, we’ll somewhat settle into a rotation when we get everybody back. It will be based on performance. They will decide that. Our players will decide how we’re going to end up playing and our rotations. They will decide that with how quickly they all understand the role that they need to play.”

On prospects saying they want to come to Tennessee based off player development to the maximum level 
“It’s always been the case, we’ve always believed in our player development program, and I think a lot of school do a good job with it I’m sure, but it is the upmost importance here that’s why you start with our strength and conditioning program, I’ve been blessed when Todd white was with me for twenty years, and now Garrett Mendenwald comes out of that same school and worked with Todd, when I came here there was no doubt that Garrett was a guy that was coming with us, with what he does on a day to day basis, and then normally when you get to a new place your training staff is in place, Chad Newman is one of the best that I’ve dealt with and those two guys are very important in terms of your player development because you’re asking guys to put a lot of time in, you’re asking them improve their bodies and extend their bodies and it’s not just during the season because I do believe in the old adage that players are made in the offseason and they continue to get better during the season. But they’re going to make those big strides in the offseason, so that part of it is really important for us and for them and then I think the work that the coaches do with them not only from a physical standpoint. You know working on their daily vitamins when they come in to work on the things we want them to do at the very least we need to get those in every day, but also from the film work that our assistants do with them. Just, to continuing to teach them the mental side of it. At the end of last year one of the things we talked about is we always felt like that we’ve put a lot of pride in our player development program, but we talked about how can we take that to another level, and we’ve tried to do that in the offseason, pretty much with our coaches being able to spend as much time that they’re allowed to, to be with our players and our players have embraced that and so it really is a commitment from the entire staff and not just coaches, the players have to do their part. Then obviously I can’t emphasize enough how much it means to have a great medical staff here and what they do, what Chad and Garrett do every day, and Lauren our dietician and what she does, our guys love it. If you would to come to practice one day and come down to the locker room and see her there and how much pride she takes In doing her job, what Mary-Carter does to make sure everything is in place on her end, it’s just staff commitment, because we do believe in putting our players first, we think we’re here to help them grow in every area, every facet we can to help them grow and that’s what makes the job fun, is to see the guys get better, because the better they get the better we will be as a team.”

UT Athletics

ROSTER BREAKDOWN
• The Vols’ 2019-20 roster features 14 players (12 scholarship student-athletes) representing seven states as well as Finland, France and Serbia.
• There are four Vols who hail from the state of Tennessee, two from Texas and one each from Alabama, Delaware, North Carolina, New York and South Carolina.
• UT has two seniors, five juniors, two sophomores and five freshmen.
• Four Vols stand 6-5 or shorter, and 10 players are 6-6 or taller.
• Tennessee’s 12 scholarship players combine to boast 445 games played (34.2 per man) and 121 starts (9.3 per man).

TENNESSEE LOSES 70 PERCENT OF ITS SCORING, TOP THREE SCORERS
• After losing four of the five starters from last year’s squad and eight total players, the Vols have gone from one of the most experienced rosters in college basketball to one of the greenest.
• Of its 3,035 total points scored last season, Tennessee returns just 922—or 30 percent—of its total scoring.
• UT’s top three scorers from a year ago in Grant Williams (18.8 ppg), Admiral Schofield (16.5 ppg) and Jordan Bone (13.5 ppg) either graduated or elected to forgo their senior season to pursue a professional playing career.
• In addition to scoring, Tennessee also lost the majority of its production from last season in blocks (71.9%), assists (66.0%) and rebounding (65.1% ).

UT HAS BEEN A MAINSTAY IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
• Tennessee is riding a streak of 35 consecutive appearances in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. That ties a school record set March 1, 1999, through Feb. 19, 2001.
• Last season, for the first time in program history, the Volunteers spent the entire season—20 polls—in the AP top 10. Tennessee spent four straight weeks at No. 1 last season before finishing the year at No. 6.
• If UT appears in this year’s AP preseason poll, that will run the current streak to 36 straight appearances, marking a new program record.

TENNESSEE RIDING NATION’S LONGEST HOME WIN STREAK
• Tennessee enters the 2019-20 season riding a 26-game home win streak that is tied with Buffalo as the longest active streak among Division I teams.
• The streak dates to the 2017-18 season. The Vols won their final eight games at Thompson-Boling Arena that year before going 18-0 at home last season.
• Tennessee’s last loss in Knoxville was a 94-84 loss to Auburn on Jan. 2, 2018.
• The program record for consecutive home wins is 37 (2006-09). The current streak is tied as the fourth-longest in UT history. The Vols have also authored home win streaks of 33 games (1966-68) and 28 games (1935-37).

DIPLOMA CULTURE
• Lamonte Turner will play his entire senior season as a college graduate, as he earned his degree in Communication Studies last May.
• Redshirt junior Jalen Johnson will earn his degree in Communication Studies in December, while fellow redshirt juniors Jacob Fleschman (Business Finance) and John Fulkerson (Recreation and Sport Management) will graduate this May.

BOWDEN, TURNER APPROACHING 1,000-POINT MILESTONE
• The senior guard duo of Jordan Bowden and Lamonte Turner enters the season less than 100 points away from eclipsing the 1,000-point mark for their careers.
• A total of 50 Vols have accomplished that feat during their time on Rocky Top, with Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams being the most recent additions to the 1,000-Point Club last season.
• Turner (951 points) and Bowden (941 points) could both reach the milestone within the first month of the season. Last season, Schofield and Williams achieved the feat in the same game, surpassing the mark in UT’s win over Louisville in the NIT Season Tip-Off.
• Tennessee has reached the Sweet Sixteen each of the last two seasons in which two players joined the 1,000-Point Club. In 2014, Jordan McRae and Jarnell Stokes joined the club.
• All-time, UT has had 11 duos reach 1,000 points in the same season, including Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King in 1975-76.

FOURTH LAST SEASON, VOLS LOOK TO REMAIN AMONG TOP 10 IN AVERAGE HOME ATTENDANCE
• Tennessee finished fourth nationally in average regular-season home attendance last year, drawing an average of 19,034 fans to 18 games at Thompson-Boling Arena.
• Last season’s average of 19,034 ranks seventh in program history for single-season average and was Tennessee’s highest attendance since 2009-10, during which it drew an average of 19,168 fans per game.
• The Vols have ranked among the top 20 in men’s college basketball attendance for 15 consecutive years, including seven seasons ranked in the top five nationally.

UT ROSTER FEATURES SIX LEFTIES
• While most studies estimate that 10 percent of the population is left-handed, lefties make up nearly half of this Tennessee basketball team. Six current Vols are “southpaws.”
• Tennessee’s left-handers include: Victor Bailey Jr., John Fulkerson, Davonte Gaines, Josiah-Jordan James, Jalen Johnson and Yves Pons.
• Tennessee has more left-handed players than any other team in the SEC this season. No other SEC team has more than four.

2019 SWEET SIXTEEN RUN PUT BARNES IN RARE COMPANY
• Rick Barnes last season became one of only a dozen head coaches ever to lead at least three different schools to an NCAA Tournament Round of 16 appearance (Clemson, Texas, Tennessee).
• The 12 coaches who have led at least three different schools to the Round of 16 are: Lon Kruger (has done it with four schools), Barnes, Gene Bartow, John Calipari, Frank McGuire, Ralph Miller, Rick Pitino, Bruce Pearl, Bill Self, Eddie Sutton, Tubby Smith and Bruce Weber.

VOLS WELL REPRESENTED IN THE NBA
• Multiple Tennessee alums will have a presence in the NBA in 2019-20—highlighted by a pair of veteran starters with the Philadelphia 76ers in forward Tobias Harris (2010-11) and guard Josh Richardson (2011-15).
• Three VFLs had their names called in June’s NBA Draft. Grant Williams was drafted in the first round (22nd overall) by the Boston Celtics. Admiral Schofield was selected 42nd overall, and Jordan Bone was taken with the 57th pick. Draft-day trades sent Schofield to the Washington Wizards and Bone to the Detroit Pistons.
• Tennessee was one of five schools to have three players selected in the NBA Draft, and UT was the first school to have three upperclassmen selected in the same draft since Vanderbilt in 2012.
• A fourth VFL is embarking on his rookie NBA season as well, as forward Kyle Alexander went undrafted but signed a free-agent deal with the Miami Heat after a strong showing with the club during the NBA Summer League.
• Harris is embarking on his ninth NBA season. He started all 82 regular-season games last year (55 with the Los Angeles Clippers and 27 with the 76ers). He averaged a career-best 20.0 points per game, and his 18.2 ppg with the Sixers ranked second on the team. For his career, Harris averages 15.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting .364 from 3-point range.
• Richardson enters his fifth NBA season—the previous four with Miami. The 26-year-old has started 154 games over the last two seasons and averages 12.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists during his NBA career. He also shoots at a .368 clip from 3-point range. His averages for points, rebounds and assists have improved every year as a pro.
• New York Knicks Assistant GM Allan Houston (1989-93) continues to play a key insider’s role with the franchise he once starred for. He also serves as GM of the NBA G-League’s Westchester Knicks.

ANNIVERSARIES
• The 2019-20 season marks the 10th anniversary of Tennessee’s Elite Eight run in 2009-10. That marks still stands as UT’s deepest run in the postseason ever. The squad finished with a 28-9 record. During the NCAA Tournament, the Vols defeated NBA All-Star Kawhi Leonard and San Diego State in the first round, 62-59. After cruising past Ohio in the second round, Tennessee finally advanced past the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history with a 76-73 win over Big Ten champion Ohio State, who was led by Evan Turner, the No. 2 pick of the 2010 NBA Draft. The run came to an end in the Elite Eight, where the Vols fell to Michigan State, 70-69.
• This season also marks the 20th anniversary of UT’s Sweet Sixteen run in 1999-2000. That was just the third time the Vols had reached the regional semifinals but was the first since the tournament had expanded to a 64-team format. That team also claimed an SEC Eastern Division title. The league abandoned divisional play following the 2010-11 season.
• Ten years ago (on Nov. 17, 2009), the Vols set single-game school records for points (124), assists (34) and 3-pointers (16) in a victory over UNC Asheville. Tennessee also recorded its second-most points in a half (66), its second-largest margin of victory ever (+75) and its fifth-most field goals in a single game (46).
• Thirty years ago, during the 1989-90 campaign, UT’s all-time leading scorer, Allan Houston, posted the Tennessee single-game record for points scored by a freshman with 43 against LSU (on Feb. 10, 1990). That mark ranks as the fifth-most points ever scored by a Vol in a game. Also in that game, Greg Bell chipped in 31 points, which is one of only five times ever when two Tennessee players scored 30 points in the same game.
• Twenty years ago (on Dec. 21, 1999), the Vols set a single-game school record with 22 steals during a 102-58 win over American-Puerto Rico. Ten years later, the 2009-10 squad posted the second-highest mark with 21 steals in a game against North Carolina A&T.
• On Feb. 6, 1980, All-American Reggie Johnson matched the program record for field goals made with 19 against Florida. He finished with 43 points in the outing.
• During the 1999-2000 season, C.J. Black improved his program-record in career blocks to 212. No other Vol has yet to eclipse the 200-block mark for their career. Black finished his career with an incredible 1.80 blocks per game average.

VOLS’ ROSTER BOASTS INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
•Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes has vastly expanded the program’s recruiting pipelines since arriving on Rocky Top, including internationally. Since his hiring in 2015, Barnes has now signed four international players, including two in the 2019 class.
• Junior wing Yves Pons, from Fuveau, France, returns to the team this year after seeing an increased role during his sophomore season. He appeared in 35 games with 13 starts and shot .516 from the field. In just his third career start, he recorded seven points, six rebounds and a block in UT’s thrilling upset of No. 1 Gonzaga.
• Pons—who was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti—attended the INSEP (National Institute of Sport and Physical Education) Academy in Paris. Other notable INSEP basketball alums include Boris Diaw, Tony Parker and Ronny Turiaf.
• The Vols’ other international team members this season are forwards Olivier Nkamhoua, from Helsinki, Finland, and Ivanjica, Serbia, native Uros Plavsic.
• Nkamhoua competed for Finland (as a 6-4 point guard) in 2016 FIBA U16 European Championships divisional play. He is a true freshman this season.
• Plavsic, a redshirt freshman, has competed against fellow Serbian and NBA All-Star Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, as well as Croatian NBA center Ivica Zubac.
• All three players are the first from their respective countries to play for the Vols. Overall, Tennessee has signed 10 international players in its program history.

UT Athletics