Rick Barnes almost prevented one of the biggest wins of his career at Tennessee from happening
The Tennessee Volunteers just welcomed college basketball fans to the month of March with one of the most thrilling endings of the season. With 3.8 seconds on the clock, Vols guard Jahmai Mashack took the inbound pass and dribbled up the floor. Then, just as the buzzer was about to sound, he released a long three, and to the jubilation of the home crowd, it splashed through for the win.
However, what wasn’t evident during the nail-biting final seconds was that there was a chance it all might not have happened. Rick Barnes was trying to call timeout after Tennessee got the ball up the floor, but Mashack took matters into his own hands.
“To be honest with you, I was calling timeout,” Barnes said after the game in his press conference. “I didn’t see the play. I knew when the way they lined up, Shack and I made eye contact, and I felt like if he could get it, and get it as far down the floor – if we could just get it across half court and have one second on the clock, we’ve got a play where I thought we could get a high percentage shot instead of the shot from half court.
“They know what to do there, and he’s normally not in that position, but I looked at him and said, ‘if you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go’, and I told him they know I’m going to call the timeout. I made one good coaching move today. I didn’t tell the referee I was going to call a timeout. I normally tell him, and they would’ve probably given it to me, but I’m screaming it, and really, I did not see the shot.
“But I’m happy for Jahmai, and he’s just been an incredible – everything. He exemplifies everything you want in a player, a person.”
That explanation makes Barnes’ reaction after the game-winning shot all the more clear. Barnes threw his arms up after the ball went through while the Tennessee fans, coaches, and players celebrated in a frenzy. And Barnes wasn’t the only one trying to call timeout as Mashack crossed halfcourt. Zakai Zeigler can be seen on video also trying to call timeout just before Mashack released the ball.
Fortunately, as Barnes noted, the official nearest him had no idea that Barnes wanted to call timeout there. It’s also fortunate that he wasn’t looking at Barnes’ direction right at that moment either, as he likely would have still called it with no prior notice.
Instead, Barnes picked up one of the biggest wins of his career at Tennessee. The Vols have had bigger wins as far as higher ranked teams. Tennessee is now 8-0 at home under Barnes against AP top 6 teams after all. However, this one was against Alabama, which speaks for itself. And it was perhaps a de facto elimination game for a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Vols still have a little bit of work to do go get there. They have to avoid getting tripped up at Ole Miss and at home against South Carolina to end the regular season. But if they can, the Vols could be in position to make school history.
Thanks in no small part to a timeout that never happened.
