Barnes wasn’t happy.
It’s safe to say Rick Barnes was blindsided and less than pleased with Cam Carr’s decision to leave the team midseason. The veteran coach was asked about the situation following Tennessee’s win over MTSU and he didn’t mince words.
“He just walked out,” Barnes told the media following the game.
“We were obviously counting on him being part of the team. Surprised his teammates. They were very disappointed. So from here on, there is nothing to really talk about. He made his decision. No reason. It’s baffling to be quite honest with you.”
Carr was working back from a thumb injury and was expected to be a big part of the team in the second half of the season. His decision, paired with the JP Estrella injury, leaves Tennessee with just nine scholarship players left for the remainder of the season.
“He was going to have to earn his way back. We talked about that this week with everybody because we wanted everybody to do it.
“We would have had 10 guys here, and we expected that we could use all 10 guys.”
Carr was averaging 4.8 points per game in his four appearances this season. He put up a career-high 13 points against Montana back in early November.
Carr’s departure leaves Tennessee in a difficult spot. Barnes entered the season with only 11 scholarship players. Now he’s down to nine. Tennessee is an injury away from being in real trouble. You can play with eight or nine in the rotation, but the margin for error is thin. So that begs the question — can Tennessee add a player Santiago-Vescovi-style mid-season?
“We haven’t thought a lot about it,” Barnes said of that idea. “I’m sure we will over the next couple of days, talk about some things.”
Stay tuned.