Tennessee basketball is altering its Senior Day festivities this season. For the first time under head coach Rick Barnes, the Vols will hold their Senior Day ceremony following their game against South Carolina instead of before.
“We’re going to actually move our senior day to after the game because, one, we’ve got a lot this year and we really don’t want to rush through it,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said of the reasoning for the change on Friday. “We’ve always felt like, I’ve always felt like, those guys, if they would like to have a chance to address Vol Nation, they should be able to do that, if they choose to do it. You can’t do that prior to the game.”
In the past, Tennessee held the Senior Day ceremony approximately 25 minutes before tipoff. With seven seniors on this season’s roster in addition to three senior managers, it became much more logistical sense to hold the ceremony following the game.
After Tennessee lost to Kentucky on Senior Day last season, Barnes stated that he thought his team with three senior starters was too emotional early in the game and noted that he liked the idea of doing the ceremony after the game.
“Then you got the seniors that are playing at home and guys that wanted to play their hearts out,” Barnes said following the loss. “And they put too much pressure on themselves, thinking, hey, you got to get it done early.”
That concern is expedited this year. Four of Tennessee’s five starters are seniors as well as sixth man Jordan Gainey who has had a breakout season for the Vols’ in his final collegiate season.
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Both Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack have been with the Tennessee program for four seasons and have become fan favorites during that time.
“Yeah, for sure,” Mashack said on whether he’s glad the ceremony is after the game. “I think it keeps us locked in on the task at hand which is to win the game then after that we’ll be able to celebrate and really be able to breathe and think about everything we’ve been able to do at this university.”
The duo have accomplished a lot in their college career and have been been key parts of the winningest stretch in Tennessee history. The AP Top 25 has included Tennessee basketball every week of Zeigler and Mashack’s college career.
Zeigler is a reigning First Team All-SEC selection while Mashack was a key role player off the bench for two seasons before moving into a starting role this season. Both have been fantastic defenders from early in their college careers.
“They’ve lived up to our motto,” Barnes said. “It’s not about me as well as anybody. And this year, I think really where we are right now, their leadership has been at an extremely high level.:
Tipoff between Tennessee and South Carolina is at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon. Tom Hart and Jon Sundvold are on the call for the SEC Network.
