TAMPA, Fla. — The confetti had dropped. The trophies had been handed out. But when the last thread of the net finally was cut down following Tennessee’s 65-50 win over Texas A&M Sunday at Amalie Arena, Vols guards Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi ran to place it around the neck of head coach Rick Barnes.
“Whenever we were cutting the net, ‘Jo’ came up to me and we looked at each other and we were like, yep, we need to get coach,” Vescovi said. “We know he’s not going to go up there to get it. We know how much he means for every single one of us ... so we wanted to share that moment with him.”
After watching the Vols capture the SEC tournament title for the first time in 43 years, Barnes could be celebrating more big moments with his team in the NCAA Tournament.
