FINAL: Georgia 76 @Tennessee 75

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/830365725277712384

Rick Barnes downplays the NCAA tourney projections, but he's not dodging the importance of Saturday's game against Georgia.

"The question is, and they've learned a lot because they've been in situations where they've had to play important minutes, but moving forward how hungry are they?" Barnes said on Friday. "How much better do they want to be as individuals?

"We know as a team we're still not where we want to be in terms of winning games the way we want to win them. For us to get there, these guys have to get better."

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/830153952561856517

He's gonna cool it down. He's gotta slow it down.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/GrantRamey/status/830554082679062528

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/JonDBrice/status/830565719645495297

Rick Barnes: "No one has had tougher luck than Georgia this year. I can't sit here and complain about (the no-call on the goaltend)"

Rick Barnes never minces his words --- win or lose for his University of Tennessee basketball team.

A week after waiting outside the referees' locker room in Starkville, Miss., to privately air his grievances with the Southeastern Conference's officiating crew at Mississippi State regarding a goal-tending call against the Vols' Grant Williams, Barnes emphasized officials had missed a key call in the closing moments when asked about the play by 247Sports' Wes Rucker.

Tennessee, down four, heaved a 3-point attempt from the right wing that appeared during live sequence to have been intruded upon in the cylinder by a Georgia Bulldogs' defender. The Vols then lost 76-75, completing another come-from-way-ahead-loss.

"It was a goal-tend," Barnes said, beginning his answer to Rucker's question even before it had ended. "You can't hit the ball, and the ball was in the cylinder. It's a play. I can only (attest) to what they told me, and the TV copies showed and from what we saw, the ball was definitely being touched.

"It's a big play. We should've ... the clock should have been stopped at 7.6 (seconds) or something like that. Again, that's what we were told and what we saw. There's a hand on the ball, and the ball is at the cylinder. Whether it is or not, the ball is coming down."

Barnes was quick to point the finger in a 76-75 loss that, for now, severely dampened the Vols' NCAA Tournament hopes at his own team's defense.

Plus, Barnes noted, Georgia also has seen absurdly poor officiating impact it this season. The Bulldogs were controversial losers in a road game last month at Texas A&M due to a "clock malfunction."

[jbcarol]

@GrantRamey ‏@GrantRamey 2h2 hours ago

Just a refresher on leads lost by Tennessee before today:
19 (Miss. State)
15 (UNC)
13 (Arkansas)
13 (Ole Miss)

14-pt lead today down to ...