Texas A&M basketball fans have not forgotten Rick Barnes’s sore-loser jibe from 2023
Texas A&M basketball fans still remember Barnes’s sad attempt at scoffing after loss in Reed
Texas A&M basketball will play host to the Tennessee Volunteers in an early contest on Saturday. This figures to be one of the biggest games for either team yet this season, as you would expect given that this is a top-10 matchup.
Of course, the SEC is full of such high-level action this year, and has been for quite some time. The Aggies have been trending up as this core group has grown over the past few seasons, and one of the key victories in that story came in 2023 over these same Tennessee Volunteers.
Since Rick Barnes has been in Knoxville, the Vols have been a formidable force in the conference. With players like Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield, Dalton Knecht, Santiago Vescovi, and the still-tenured Zakai Zigler, the Vols have been a tough out for a while.
That is a lot of what made 2023’s game such a big moment for this Aggie program. From beginning to end, the Ags controlled that matchup against the Vols, weathering every big run and answering with more of their own. By the time the buzzer sounded, everyone in attendance knew what a big milestone they had just witnessed.
The crowd, as you’d expect, was raucous for that game. It got under Rick Barnes’s skin so much, apparently, that he decided to show off his standup comedy skills in the postgame presser.
Once everyone had finished laughing at this well-refined and effortless joke and the quote got out there, it didn’t go over very well, surprisingly. Hard to imagine why.
Two years later, Aggie fans have not forgotten Barnes’s sore loser act after that game. In 2024, when the Vols came to Reed and lost again, the crowd was even more frenzied. And if I had to guess, that dial will be turned up even more in this latest edition.
A pair of ranked SEC squads share the court on Thursday, Feb. 27 with the No. 15 Kentucky Wildcats hosting the No. 11 Tennessee Lady Volunteers at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on the SEC Network. Fans looking to watch this college basketball game can do so by using FuboTV, which offers a free trial and up to $25 off your first month, or DirecTV Stream, which also offers a free trial. SlingTV doesn’t offer a free trial but does have other promotional offers available.
The Wildcats are looking to bounce back from a loss to No. 7 LSU that moved them to 21-5 and 10-4 in the SEC. Kentucky is currently fourth in the conference, but three teams are right behind at 9-5, which could drastically change the Wildcats’ draw for the SEC Tournament.
The Lady Vols are 8-6 in the SEC and eighth in the standings, looking to climb into that jumble Kentucky is trying to stay above. Tennessee is on a four-game winning streak with its last loss also coming against LSU.
