Nobody likes beating up on their lifelong friends. But if you coach long enough, it’s inevitable. It’s just business, nothing personal.

Rick Barnes had a smile on his face after No. 1 Tennessee brushed back an upset attempt with a 74-70 win Saturday at Moody Center. But to beat Rodney Terry, his longtime assistant and friend who’s now the head coach at Texas? Well, that wasn’t so pleasant.

The Vols (15-1, 2-1 SEC) needed a bounce-back win after getting steam-rolled earlier in the week in Gainesville. Florida just trounced Barnes’ club, winning by 30 and knocking the Vols from the ranks of the undefeated. But the Longhorns needed a big win, too.

“Do you enjoy it? Not really,” Barnes said of beating up on Terry, who is now 0-3 in his maiden SEC voyage. Texas (11-5) still has yet to get a quad one victory in five attempts. “I bet I could almost go into the locker room and tell you what Rodney said, because he's been with me so many times.

“I can assure you he knew what I was telling my team. I guarantee it.”

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Terry, assistant coach Frank Haith and general manager Chris Ogden all essentially grew up under Barnes during his 17 seasons with the Horns.

“I mean, they’re part of my fiber,” Barnes said. “Been with him so long, and I love him. I want to see him do well, but it’s tough. They’re in the SEC.”

Barnes said the coaches in this league are “probably better friends that people think. And I think they're just a great deal of mutual respect. But we know when the tip goes up, you got a job to do and you’ve got to do your job.”

On Saturday, that meant shutting down UT’s standout freshman Tre Johnson and Arthur Kaluma, who went off for 34 points against Auburn. The Vols came into Austin with the second-best scoring defense in Division I. Johnson had 26 points on 11-or-17 shooting, but Kaluma had just four points and was oddly a non-factor.

Johnson was hitting step-back 3-pointers and mid-range baseline turnaround jumpers. He was cooking and telling the Vols all about it, too. It was a far cry from Johnson’s so-so showings against Texas A&M and Auburn. This was the talented star who lit up Ohio State and UConn.

“I feel like the first two (SEC) games, I was more stagnant, I wasn't moving as much,” Johnson said. “And I feel like the more movement, it's harder to guard me and then also making other guys helping (defensively), things like that. So I feel like just my movement on the offensive end helped me out.”

So why did the Horns go away from Johnson late? Texas’ hottest shooter didn’t take a single shot for 6:25 late in the game, spanning the stretch that Terry said was “winning time” with seven minutes left.

“That’s the No. 1 defensive team in the country. They’re not going to let you come down and get shots,” Terry said. “You gotta earn your baskets, man.”

Terry brought it back to defense as the reason Johnson needed to rest for more than two minutes in a tight game. “You know, we don't ask Trey Johnson to just play on one end of the floor at Texas. You got to play on both ends of the floor.”

The Vols got a big 3-pointer from Jordan Gainey and Zakai Zeigler drove for an impressive layup, giving the visitors a five-point edge. Zeigler finished with 16 points and three others finished in double figures.

Texas got 17 points from Jordan Pope and 10 more from Tramon Mark. But this team simply can’t afford to have huge offensive lapses like it did late in the second half.

It doesn’t get any easier going forward. This week, Texas travels to Oklahoma and Florida. It’s the same OU team that had an 18-point lead on A&M and somehow blew it. And it’s the same Florida team that chomped up Tennessee.

“Well, I think we've gotten better, but we've gotten better in losses,” Terry said. “You know, that sometimes happens in seasons.

“At some point, obviously you have to have a breakthrough, but you have to make the breakthrough happen.”