No. 9 Tennessee (9-1, 3-1 SEC) defeated Texas A&M, 68-54, in College Station, Texas.
The Vols improved to 3-1 in Southeastern Conference play.
Following Tennessee’s win, Vols’ head coach Rick Barnes discussed his team’s performance against the Aggies.
Below is a transcript provided by the University of Tennessee.
On how important sophomore Santiago Vescovi’s offense was during Saturday’s win:
“It was really important. It reminded me of his first game here when he walked on the floor with two days of practice against LSU. I remember he came out and hit some shots like that. He has struggled a little bit lately. I think some of it is me maybe asking him to do a little bit too much. He knows that he wants to be good. He was playing with a lot of confidence today and every game. We’ve still got to get his teammates wanting to go get the ball some and let him not have to work so hard bringing the ball up the floor. People are going to try to do that all season long to try to wear him down. Santi was terrific. Jaden Springer, I thought, played his best game. He had some turnovers there at the end that he shouldn’t have, but those are learning experiences.”
On freshman Jaden Springer’s performance in Tennessee’s 14-point victory:
“I thought he was really solid defensively and he’s going to learn so much as he continues to go. These next couple of weeks are going to be huge for him, Keon (Johnson) and the other guys that we get out there. These minutes are really valuable. Jaden handled himself really well today. He’s a really gifted player, certainly offensively. I think he’s deceptive in what he does. He made a great pass. We ran a little set to get he and Fulky (John Fulkerson) down there in a two-man game. He made a great pass to Fulky. Fulky missed the dunk but that was a great pass. That’s talent – seeing it and making the play.”