Tennessee’s turnover problem has gotten so bad this season that coach Rick Barnes was left jokingly questioning his players’ competitive integrity after the Volunteers’ 77-69 win over Auburn on Saturday.
“Some of the passes that we throw, I don’t know what to say other than sometimes I wonder if my guys are betting on games,” Barnes said to the laughter of reporters, before quickly walking the joke back.
“I shouldn’t say that. Erase that,” he then said with his hand over his face.
This was an all-timer by Rick Barnes 😂
I asked him about the team’s heightened focus and it ends with him talking about certain questionable bad passes.
“Sometimes I wonder if my guys are betting on games.” pic.twitter.com/1Q5Au3008b
— Paige Dauer (@PaigeDauerFDP) February 1, 2026
The Volunteers (15-6, 5-3 SEC) are 4-2 in the past six games, but have lost the turnover battle in all six games since a Jan. 10 91-67 loss to Florida, turning the ball over 86 times in that stretch. Tennessee’s two leading scorers on the season, senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (18.6) and five-star freshman forward Nate Ament (16.6), are averaging 2.6 and 2.5 turnovers per game, respectively.
The team ranks second-to-last in the SEC in turnover margin at minus-1.29, and total turnovers on the season with 275. Tennessee’s 13.1 turnovers per game is worst in the conference.
Barnes’ joke came amid a volatile time in college athletics regarding betting on games.
Earlier in January, federal prosecutors released an indictment charging 26 men with participating in a conspiracy to bribe and manipulate college basketball games involving previously active college athletes, according to The Athletic.
The indictment alleged a gambling ring that involved at least 39 players, with 20 charged, including five who were on college basketball teams this season.
No Tennessee players were named in the allegations, but amid the contentious relationship between gambling and NCAA basketball, Barnes made sure to quickly walk his statement back, even if the quip was rooted in real frustration.
“Was that a bad joke?” Barnes asked the room. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have said that. But the fact is, we’ve got to get smarter. We have to, and they know it.”
