Rick Barnes explains why he didn't put Admiral Schofield back in the game for overtime vs. Iowa

For the last possession of regulation and the entire overtime period, Tennessee star G/F Admiral Schofield was on the bench as the Vols held off a feisty Iowa team.

That was notable, as he was one of the team’s leaders all year. The team didn’t end up needing him for this game, though (not for overtime, anyway), as Grant Williams took over and led the Vols to an 83-77 victory.

It seemed weird that coach Rick Barnes wouldn’t put Schofield back in the game, but in his postgame press conference, Barnes explained that Schofield felt Kyle Alexander earned the right to finish the game:

Rick Barnes says Admiral Schofield was not in the game late at the insistence of Schofield: "He didn't want to play. He kept saying 'keep Kyle in the game.' That was his decision. He told me to leave Kyle in the game."

— Kyle Boone (@Kyle__Boone) March 24, 2019

Schofield finished with 19 points and five rebounds, so it wasn’t like he was having a bad game, by any means.

Still, this is the kind of leadership that makes Tennessee so dangerous. Alexander was playing well, and the Vols got the win — that’s all that matters to Schofield.