Tennessee basketball assistant coach Rod Clark and sophomore forward Cade Phillips met with the local media on Monday afternoon before the Vols leave for Baton Rouge to face LSU.
The Vols are coming off perhaps their best win of the season, defeating Texas A&M on the road Saturday afternoon. That win moved Tennessee back in a strong spot to potentially earn a No. 1 seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament.
Ahead of another road trip, Clark and Phillips discussed the big win in College Station, the importance of last week’s open date and much more. Here’s everything each said on Monday.
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Rod Clark
On if there’s a correlation between Tennessee shooting well at Texas A&M after getting a midweek bye last week
“Yeah, I think any time you have some time to get legs up under you and you get some time to rest, obviously it helps with your shooting from week to week. But if you look, you know, before that we were shooting the ball pretty well going into the break, and then just to come out and have a performance like that, obviously is really inspiring. But it was more so, I think, it was great for the guys just to get their legs up under them, get a little bit of rest, get some time, more than physical, to get a little mental and emotional relief from having that time off and go out and have an outing like that.”
On how big it was for Jordan Gainey to hit big shots late at Texas A&M
“It was big because he had some open shots in the first half that he didn’t connect on. And I think everybody knows by now how reliant we are on his consistent production. We need him to score the ball, we need him to be aggressive when he comes off the bench. So it was great, him coming off and making those shots. Obviously they were super timely and we needed them, so we were excited to see that. We need him to continue that, honestly, especially as we get into this last stretch, SEC play. But it was big. It just was big for all our guys that have a performance like that.”
On how Chaz Lanier has adjusted during SEC play
“He’s done a really good job of adjusting and, you know, coach said it the other day, I think he’s seen every defense that you could see. He’s been taken out, he’s been held, grabbed. It’s funny, every game we always talk about like him having to tuck in his jersey three, four times because he’s pulled every time he comes off a screen or anything. But he’s been adjusting and doing a good job fighting through contact, understanding he has to give a little bit of aggression when it comes to driving to the rim. Obviously he had that left-hand dunk going to the rim the other day, which was obviously a big surprise to all of us, but it we know he can do it though. We’ve seen him do it. Just need him to consistently do it. But it was good to see him have a night like that.”
On the importance of Jahmai Mashack’s two put-backs for Tennessee in the win at Texas A&M
“The first thing I said to Coach when we got back off the floor, back in the locker room, I said the two biggest plays were his tip-ins. And our staff, we all agreed. Those were huge. Those were his two baskets. But that’s why, you know, we see the stuff, not all of us, I see some of the stuff on social media where guys (are saying) our best lineups are this and Jahmai Mashack does this offensively and all this other stuff. And I get it, like analytics can say a lot of things, but when you’re in the heat of the battle and you’re in these games, to say that we’re better when Jahmai Mashack is not on the floor is kind of — I hate to use this word — but stupid. It just kind of is. We finished the game with four guards on the floor and we were playing a massive, huge team. And he’s at the four and we’re just fine defensively. And he’s on the floor obviously to win the game. So, not to insult anybody that has their opinions, because it’s nothing wrong with that, but yeah, that’s not accurate.”
On Tennessee losing at Kentucky after not executing in the closing minutes, then playing so well in the final eight minutes at Texas A&M
“You know, we have an older team, really mature guys. They care. I think that’s a a big thing with any teams. You want guys that care, but they’re all really competitive, right? And so we’ve had some times where we haven’t been able to finish off some close games, and obviously it hurt. But guys learn from it. I say with this group, man, I think we’re around them so much and we’re together so much and we’ve been through all these wars and all these games and you forget that they’ve really only been playing basketball together for about five months, honestly, as far as games. So they’re learning how to go through battles with each other. You know, last year’s group was a group of guys that had been together for years and went through a lot of wars together, whereas this group is trying to find continuity with each other. And the only way that you build character to get through those tough games is being in those tough games. So now’s the time of year that you hope guys can learn from the Vanderbilt games and the Kentucky games and some of those games that we kind of let get away late. You want see the habits come out, right? And that’s what we were able to do the other night against Texas A&M. And it was good to see man. I thought our guys, they showed how tough they are. It was like one of those vintage tough guy wins that we’ve had. It felt like kind of on the road at Illinois. We just made those tougher plays at the end of the game and we made some really big shots obviously. So that was great to see it and we hope it continues.”
On how much Igor Milicic calf is bothering him
“I think he’s all right. He seems like he’s been progressing, getting through it. He’s been getting treatment, but it’s not bothering too bad.”
On what the key is to get him back on track like he was before the Vanderbilt game
“Yeah, he’s just got to lock in defensively, pay attention to detail a little bit better. I think Igor’s had a couple breakdowns early in games. Some things we went over defensively, but like I said to him yesterday, it’s not a lack of care. It’s like Igor cares too much, right? He cares a lot and emotionally he can get riled up because he really wants to do well for his team and he’s an ultimate teammate. He’s really good about trying to get locked in before the game and making sure that he’s doing the right things. But sometimes I think he can kind of like, he can kind of just overwork himself to where he’s overthinking and trying to help this guy here and then breaking down here. So we just got to get him calmed down and understanding that everybody has a job to do. We know that he wants to do his job at the highest level, but he doesn’t have to be the guy that makes the play all the time. His teammate will make the play for him to make sure he’s in the best position as possible too. So he’s learning that and he’s getting better, man. He’s been great.”
On what’s been different about LSU the last few weeks
“I mean, last game Florida came out and really took it to him. Kind of punched them in the mouth early and then they responded with a 22-2 run. And usually I think that’s a testament to Coach McMahon and his staff. Usually at this time of year when you know you have a record like they have and guys find a reason to not play for anything because it’s not a lot that they really have right, that they could play for right now. But to see them go on a 22-2 run against a team like Florida, it just shows that they still have a lot of fight and they want to play good basketball, they want to be a competitive team. So this is not a game that we’re walking into thinking that it is just gonna be a walk in the park and they just going to lay down. Like we understand that they’re still here to play basketball. They still want to be a force, they want to be respected in the league, right? As all teams do. You just saw that from South Carolina this past weekend. Like they have every reason in the world to give up right now and they still haven’t. So it’s not any situation we can walk into and feel like we’re just going to walk out there, show up and we’re going to win a game. So we don’t have that approach. We respect those guys. We expect them to give us a really good fight. We expect us to give them a really good fight.”
On what stands out about LSU’s Robbert Miller
“We recruited Robert for a little bit. Robert’s a really good player. He’s about 6-foot-9 really good hands. He’s long, he’s an athletic, super talented kid. He comes from a really good family.Robert’s a really good player. He’s somebody we’re definitely focused on. Obviously he had a really good outing last game, so it’s going to be a lot of attention put on him. And when you’re a freshman in this league and you have attention getting put on you from one of the best defenses in the country, that’s a testament to the work he’s put in and how good he’s been.”
On what they want to see as coaches the next two weeks before the postseason
“We need to see, obviously, we want to get better with the start of games. Understand how to come out with the right approach. Having the same aggression early in halves that we do late in halves. We want to kind of start putting those things together. We want to be locked in defensively and put together full games. Right, now is the time of year where just having good halves is not really good enough because if you go into the wrong game, just have one good half. It could get you sent home as we keep going for these couple weeks. Just putting full games together, being locked in, attention to detail (with) scouting reports, you know, confidence and guys playing faster when it comes to shooting the ball offensively. Thought we did a good job of that the other night and really just continuing to get better. Because this is that time of year man, like everybody, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. Right now, I feel like everybody can agree we’re getting better. We just gotta continue on that path, make sure we keep going forward.”
On how much of Tennessee’s success in the second half is Zakai Zeigler flipping the switch and bringing the rest of the team with him
“He’s been doing a good job of it. I hope he starts flipping the switch before the game starts. That’d be good too. It’d probably make it a little bit easier for us early in games. He’s been doing a good job, man. He’s tough, obviously. When he’s playing good basketball, we are usually playing good basketball.
“I jokingly, but I was kind of being serious the other day, I was like, ‘hey, you know, instead of you guys like taking turns, having piggyback rides off of each other and just somebody carrying the team, why don’t we just all do it at the same time?’ So hopefully we can do that. I guess it’s like easier said than done, but you know, hopefully we keep building towards that and getting better”
On how good the midweek bye last week was for coaches to get out and recruit, see Dalton Knecht play with the Lakers
“It was good to refresh. Honestly, like I said, even for the guys, it’s not so much the physical load when you talk about getting a break in the middle of the year. It’s really the mental and the emotional. When you get done with a game on Saturday, like we just got done with a game on Saturday, right? Your attention and your brain immediately goes to the next team that you have to play within 72 hours. So you don’t get to, ‘oh, we finished this game, now I can relax.’ It’s never really like that. It’s like, okay now we gotta get on to the next thing. So it was just good being able to play Vanderbilt and then knowing that we didn’t really have to worry about anything for the next couple days and you get to go recruiting obviously.
“Took a trip out to (California) to go recruiting and then was able to take a little drive up to go see Dalton (Knecht) play one of his games with the Lakers. So that was cool to see. It’s good to see any of our former guys when they’re kind of living out their dreams and going forward being pros. So that was cool. He gave me one of his game jerseys, so I appreciate that. I’ll put that in a frame as long as my daughter doesn’t wear it as a dress.”
On what Kansas State transfer Cam Carter is doing differently this year to improve his numbers
“I think he’s just as aggressive. I think he’s just older and learning how to take his shots, get to his spots, and then obviously he’s playing in an offense that really is predicated towards letting him play a lot of ball screens and play freely and play with a faster pace. So Cam Carter is, I mean, the last three years, he’s been one of the better scorers in college basketball. He’s a really effective player. Obviously he plays with a lot of aggression, can really get to the rim, can really shoot the ball. So if you look at his numbers and as a scorer in the SEC, they’re super efficient, which is impressive because as talented as these guys are, it’s actually really hard to be efficient as a leading scorer in this league because you’re number one on the scouting report. You know, everybody knows that you’re a guy that’s gonna get the ball, you’re a guy that’s gonna take shots. So the fact that he’s been able to be efficient and be effective is pretty impressive.
“So we’re definitely going into this game, understanding he’s a guy that we have to contain and make things tough on him. And that’s our plan. We wanna make things as tough as we can on him and hopefully we come out on top at the end of the night.”
Cade Phillips
On how important last week’s open date was
“I mean, it felt good to have an extra off day during the week is always nice. But giving Coach Barnes a little extra break after a practice, makes him crank it up a little bit. But no,it was good. The guys, everybody was rested. It was good. We had a snow day for classes last week too. So on our off day, we didn’t have to go to class. So it was all around, just some good resting time.”
On finishing off the Texas A&M game after coming up just short at Auburn and Kentucky
“Texas A&M, we knew it was a game that for where we want to go and what we want to do. It was very important to us, and it was an intensity level, and it showed a level of growth that our teams have for this year. I mean, we’re still growing. I’ve talked about that a lot about one of the cooler things about our team is there’s still so much more room for improvement, and we’re playing as well as we are. And so I think being able to close the game out when we’ve fallen short a couple times, just shows a little bit more that growth as a team that we’ve had.”
On mentally preparing when his role could be different each game
“Yeah. I mean, it just goes back to doing my job. And some nights I’m needed more than others. Especially when teams are a little bit bigger and so just being prepared, no matter what position I’m about to play, no matter where I’m about to go in at and that’s what I’ve always kind of prided myself on is just being a plug and play guy, whatever you need for that day, is what I can give you.”
On Zakai Zeigler getting in a takeover mode like he did against Texas A&M
“I mean, it’s awesome, but we see it every day, you know, just that absolute just command. But when he’s doing it at the biggest stage, it’s as cool to see as anything because, I mean, it’s not just offensively either. It’s the defensive side of the ball. I mean, he blocked Wade Taylor’s shot there at the end of the game. And if that goes in, that’s a completely different ball game closing out. But just his command over both sides of the ball is second to none in the country.”
On watching Chaz Lanier go off like he did against Texas A&M
“You want to shoot the ball as soon as he crosses half court is what it feels like. But, no, I mean it’s cool to see. I’ve been lucky enough in my two years of college to be on team with Dalton Knecht and now Chaz, with his level of shooting, man, it’s awesome. You feel like every shot is gonna hit the bottom of the net and that’s it. And so when he gets hot, it kind of brings the whole team up with them. We start feeling good too.”
On how the communication has improved in recent games to help prevent defensive breakdowns on the road
“Yeah, I think it just goes back to practice and being consistent there. I mean, being able to talk and especially talk loud in an empty gym, it goes to a level of consistency. You can’t simulate the environments we play in, whether that’s here or other places in the SEC. So that emphasis on communication has started in practice to where, when you get into those loud environments, you get into these hostile crowds, it’s just another day in the office.
On what he was thinking when Rick Barnes was drawing up the play that Zakai Zeigler made a late three on at Texas A&M
“That play had a couple options, but Z was kind of like, ‘hey, toss this one out here to me.’ And you know, when somebody is as confident in his shot and a play, and basically has already seen it go in, I’m just as confident behind them, believing that things going in.
“It was an awesome, awesome shot, big shot for us. For him to want that and to feel like he already knew it was going in, it was cool to see.”
On how much Tennessee strength coach Garrett Medenwald has meant to his career and had an impact on this year’s team
“Well shoot, me personally, I came in at like 191 (pounds) at 6-foot-9, which, that’s not great. And now I’m 215 to 220, so that’s almost 30 pounds of muscle. My body fat percentage hasn’t gone up. So that’s 30 pounds of muscle since I’ve been here.
“As hard as we play and as hard as we practice, it goes to his preparation with us as a team on why we have guys that don’t get banged up easy. We have a bunch of tough guys, and it goes to the character of some of our guys, but it also goes to the preparation and training we put in with G.
“Also, G is awesome, man. Y’all talk to him. He loves what he does and he loves us, and he proves every day. He’s as consistent when it comes to bringing it every day as any player, any coach here. So having that level of consistency and love for what he’s doing across the board all the way up, like him being our strength trainer, is awesome. And so it’s somebody that you know you can count on to do what he’s supposed to do every day. And he really does love it. He loves teaching us about the stuff we’re doing and why we’re doing it. So he’s the best at what he does.”
