Tennessee managed to take down Auburn 77-69 on Saturday, but things got a little too close for comfort for Volunteers coach Rick Barnes. Following the contest, Barnes attempted to make light of some of his team’s late-game mistakes … and immediately regretted it.
While giving credit to Auburn, Barnes took issue with some of Tennessee’s passes down the stretch. He added, “Sometimes, I wonder if my guys are betting on games,” and immediately realized that was not the best thing to say.
Barnes’ response read:
“At the end of the game, 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. I shouldn’t say that. Erase that. I’m just wondering what’s happening. Because I know we’re too good of players to do that.”
At that point, Barnes may have looked over at Tennessee’s communications team before uttering, “Was that a bad … I apologize. I shouldn’t have said that. But that fact is, we’ve gotta get smarter.”
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Barnes was joking when he made the original statement about gambling, which drew laughs from those at the news conference. While he clearly didn’t mean any malice, he quickly realized the error of jokingly accusing his players of betting on games.
With the rise and normalization of legalized sports gambling, there have already been a handful of NCAA betting scandals involving current and former players. In September, players from Fresno State and San Jose State were banned for their alleged involvement in a gambling scandal. That same month, the NCAA said it was seeking additional sports-betting violations against 13 former players from six different schools.
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Given those scandals and the severity of the issue, Barnes knew he screwed up. He quickly backtracked, was apologetic and made it clear he was joking, but only after he had already delivered one heck of a quote.
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