Rick Barnes explains why Tennessee’s loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament could be a blessing in disguise

The Tennessee Vols lost to the Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday in Nashville.

Zach Ragan — Tennessee Volunteers News Writer
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ANDREW NELLES / THE TENNESSEAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Tennessee Vols’ SEC Tournament run came to an end on Friday in Nashville.

Tennessee fell 75-68 to Vanderbilt, leaving the Volunteers with a 22-11 record ahead of selection Sunday.

Losing in the quarterfinals obviously wasn’t the Vols’ goal this week, but there’s a big positive that could come from it.

Rick Barnes explains how Tennessee’s loss to Vanderbilt could be a blessing in disguise

Vols head coach Rick Barnes suggested after the game on Friday that losing to Vanderbilt could be a “blessing in disguise” for Tennessee.

Barnes noted that losing to Vanderbilt will give Vols true freshman forward Nate Ament some extra time to rest before the NCAA Tournament gets underway next week.

Ament missed several games with a high ankle sprain before returning to action in Thursday’s win over Auburn.

“I always say sometimes there’s a blessing in disguise,” said Barnes. “You always want to win. But if we’d have won today, played tomorrow and won — would we have played him (Ament) tomorrow? I don’t even know. Because he’s not 100 percent. We know it. But in his mind. it doesn’t matter, he wants to play. Maybe the loss today gives Ja’Kobi Gillespie a chance to get some more rest. It will give Nate a chance to recover.

“I think it would have been difficult if he didn’t play at all in this tournament. To miss two and a half, three weeks late in this season like this, it would have been hard. Even though he does everything he possibly can, there’s nothing like playing, especially this time of year.”

The loss is what it is for the Vols — there’s no changing it now. So if you’re Barnes, you might as well find the silver lining. And Ament getting some extra rest before the NCAA Tournament begins is certainly a silver lining considering his importance to Tennessee.

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