How a big dunk in practice and an 'emotional' talk with Rick Barnes helped Olivier Nkamhoua bounce back

Olivier Nkamhoua stood at the top of the key during practice Friday afternoon inside Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee’s senior forward realized how much pressure the scout team defense was applying on him and he decided to do something about it. 

“I don’t really drive the ball a lot,” Nkamhoua said, “but it’s not like I can’t drive the ball.”

If anyone didn’t believe him, he proved it in a split second. Nkamhoua found his runway, drove toward the rim and finished with a dunk that, according to Rick Barnes, made “the whole place come to life.”

“I took off,” Nkamhoua said, describing it as a broken play that set him up for the freelance dunk. “If I can gather my steps, it’s an unfortunate day for whoever tries to jump with me more often than not.”

“The way we guard people and the way we guard at practice, it’s not often somebody does something like that or gets dunked on like that. It was fun.”

“Man,” sophomore point guard Zakai Zeigler said later, “I lost my mind.”

A day later, Nkamhoua was playing out of his mind against Texas, scoring a career-high 27 points to go with eight rebounds in 33 minutes in Tennessee’s 82-71 win. He shot 12-for-15 from the floor and added three assists and a block. 

“He was terrific,” Barnes said after the game. “He was absolutely terrific. And it started (Friday) in practice. I think without question (it) was the best practice he’s had since he’s been here, with what he brought. 

“His energy, the fact that he carried it over. Really happy for him because I know how much he cares and how much he wants to do the right thing. To see him come out and play the way he did, it was really special.”

Barnes took his turn at describing the head-turning dunk that stopped Friday’s practice. After the head coach saw it happen, he needed an explanation. 

“It looked like he dunked it with his armpit,” Barnes said, “and I walk over and (said) ‘why are you holding back? Why don’t you do that all the time?’ At least try to do it.”

What Nkamhoua did Saturday, according to Barnes, was aggressively get to his spots on the floor, knowing where he needed the ball and what he needed to do with it from there.

“Never looked rushed,” Barnes said. “Never looked like he was not sure what he wanted to do. I just hope this gives him the kind of confidence he can keep going with.”

‘Emotional’ talk with Rick Barnes helped Olivier Nkamhoua find his focus

Nkamhoua looked like the player that scored a combined 31 games in back-to-back wins over Mississippi State and South Carolina three weeks ago, when he went a perfect 15-for-15 from the field. 

Over his previous five games, though, Nkamhoua had scored just 25 points while dropping out of the spotlight in the Tennessee front court — two points against Kentucky, two points at LSU, six points against Vanderbilt, seven points at Mississippi State, eight points against Georgia. 

The renewed spark on Saturday was more than just a product of a good practice the day before. Barnes said it went back a couple weeks to “a long, long talk” he had with Nkamhoua.

“He got emotional with me,” Barnes said, “and just said, ‘I don’t know why but I want to do it and you know I want to do it.’”

Nkamhoua backs up those words with the time he puts in.

“He works,” Barnes said. “He loves the game and he works at it.”

But the first play against Georgia last week didn’t show that work. Nkamhoua didn’t execute on the defensive end and Barnes, again, wanted an answer.

“The very first play of the game,” Barnes said, “he blew a ball-screen coverage — the very first play of the game — and I told him, I know you don’t want to do it, why’d you do it? He just said, my mind’s not in the right place.”

That was one of the topics in the heart-to-heart Nkamhoua had with Barnes. 

“It was a lot of stuff about my role,” Nkamhoua said, “and how I need to understand what the team needs from me regardless of what I can do and what’s going on around me because I’m a senior. A lot of stuff starts going around when you’re a senior and you still have to focus on the year.

“This is really our biggest year, my biggest year and that’s where my focus is and needs to be. Just talking about, it’s not even just basketball. Talking about life. Talking about how you have to take care of business how you have to know where your head is at. What’s really important to you at that time.”

Up Next: Tennessee at Florida, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

There’s school and there’s basketball, Nkamhoua explained. And there’s an unknown about what’s next, after his final season with the Vols, that he wants to ignore. 

“It’s important to make the best out of the last days regardless of what happens next year,” he said. “It’s important to take care of these days I have here. I’ve spent three years working to get where we are … I worked towards being here, being with my team.

“Regardless of if I’m having good games or bad games,” he added, “I worked towards being here in this moment with my team at the end of the year, tirelessly.”

The message Barnes got across to Nkamhoua was just how much he knows he is capable of if he’ll just “embrace the mental side of it.”

“More than anything, understand what he’s truly good at and he is good,” Barnes said.
“There’s a lot of things he really does well … sometimes a light comes on sooner or later for some people.”

The light was on against Texas.

“I love ‘O’” Barnes said. “I love him to death.”