What Rick Barnes said about Cam Carr's departure from Tennessee basketball

Rick Barnes has no idea why Cam Carr decided to abruptly leave the Tennessee basketball program in the middle of the season.

That’s because Carr didn’t offer an opportunity for discussion before his departure on Monday.

“He just walked out,” the Vols coach said.

Carr is gone and Tennessee is moving on.

The no. 1 Vols (12-0) won 82-64 against Middle Tennessee State (9-4), hours after Carr withdrew from the top team in the country, leaving the team with a maximum of nine healthy players on scholarship this season.

“From here on out, there’s nothing to really talk about,” Barnes said. “He has made his decision. No reason. To be honest, it’s confusing.”

Rick Barnes wasn’t surprised to see Cam Carr leave the Vols

Barnes believes his coaching staff knows the team’s players “like the back of our hand.” The players talk. The coaches talk.

So if you ask Barnes, he wasn’t at all surprised that Carr is gone.

“It didn’t surprise me,” Barnes said. “I actually made that comment to the coaches. That’s all I can tell you.”

Carr’s next step will be to enter the transfer portal. The timing of when the sophomore guard enters the portal comes with complications, as the portal window for basketball doesn’t open until the end of March. Barnes wasn’t sure whether Carr or the people around Carr understood the rules or not.

He was sure of what Tennessee was thinking.

“We obviously expected him to be part of the team,” Barnes said. “Surprised his teammates. They were very disappointed.”

Carr could seek a medical redshirt since he hasn’t played since Nov. 17 due to a left thumb injury. The 6-foot-2 Carr played in four games before his injury and averaged 4.8 points in 10.5 minutes per game this season.

“Cam Carr’s teammates wish him well” as he leaves Tennessee

Carr told his teammates Monday that he loved them, but he felt leaving was “the best opportunity for him,” guard Chaz Lanier said.

Lanier and guard Zakai Zeigler wished Carr the best as he left the team, leaving an already undermanned team even more so.

“His decision is his decision at the end of the day,” Zeigler said. “He is his own person. We can only wish him the best. It was – I wouldn’t say unexpected or (I) expected it or anything like that. But I wish him nothing but the best.”

Tennessee will be without forward JP Estrella after he underwent season-ending foot surgery in November. UT was without freshman guard Bishop Boswell against MTSU, leaving the Vols with eight scholarship players available and Carr off the roster.

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Carr averaged 2.3 points in 18 games in his two seasons at UT. He made a crucial 3-pointer in Tennessee’s Sweet 16 win over Creighton last season, filling in while Santiago Vescovi was ill.

The Vols lost four players to the transfer portal after this season.

Barnes recalled Monday what Zeigler and guard Jahmai Mashack said about those departures.

“They said loud and clear: ‘If they don’t want to be here, then we don’t want them here. We want people who want to be here and people who really care about being part of the team,'” Barnes said. “That’s what they said, and I think that’s how we all felt.”

Those comments were important again after Carr left the Vols.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @By Mike Wilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you like Mike’s reporting, Consider a digital subscription This gives you access to everything.

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