Tennessee basketball knocked Texas out of the SEC Tournament on Friday afternoon with a 82-72 victory at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
The Vols never trailed thanks to strong performances from Zakai Zeigler, Chaz Lanier and Jahmai Mashack. Texas is now waiting for Selection Sunday to see if they’ll make the Big Dance.
Following the game, Texas head coach Rodney Terry discussed whether he thinks they have done enough to make the NCAA Tournament, Zeigler and Mashack’s defense and much more. Here’s everything Terry said.
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Opening Statement
“Good afternoon. Again, another hard-fought contest in the SEC. Knew we were going to play a really physical team in Tennessee today.
We knew, again, it was going to be a big premium, our rebounding was going to be a big part of the game. They had eight offensive rebounds in the first half, still down one possession. I thought the second half they really came out and guarded really hard.
Their defense were tough to go against all night long. When you have two of the top defenders in all of college basketball, Mashack and Zeigler, you talk about disrupting the game, causing all kinds of problems on both ends of the floor, he’s done that throughout the course of his career. Man, he’s tough to go against.
He’s made us better. They have a team that’s built to go a long ways in March.”
On what he feels like Texas’ ceiling is
“We’d be a dangerous matchup in the NCAA tournament because we’re finally healthy. We have our full allotment of guys. We’re playing pretty good at the right time of year. We have a guy that can go into the tournament and he can score 30 points in a game. You have a guy that can come into a tournament setting, score 30 points in a game, you’re nervous dealing with that. Tennessee had that last year. At any time they could have a guy that could explode for 30.
When you have scoring and star power like that, you’re always a dangerous team. Tramon played well down the stretch for us. I thought everybody was playing at the kind of level they would play for us all season, to be honest.”
On if fatigue was an issue for Texas
“Again, I mean, we don’t make any excuses. This time of year, you lace ’em up and you’re ready to go anytime it’s a competitive situation and you have a scoreboard. I have some competitors over in that locker room. When we do that in practice, we become competitive, it’s about winning or losing, doesn’t matter if they’re tired or not, they’re going to go full tilt.
I thought we did that for the better part of the game. We were in really good position I thought at halftime. I thought coming out the first four minutes was really going to tell the tale in terms of who was going to put whose will on who to start the second half.
They came out physical. Second-chance opportunities. We had some opportunities as well. You give them a lot of credit. They’re hard to play against because, again, I go back to the fact that they’ve got Zeigler out there, having a stake on the ball, causing all kinds of problems. Mashack is a problem, too. When you have two of the best defenders in college basketball, man, it’s hard. It’s hard.”
On slowing down Chaz Lanier after his hot start
“Man, he’s a really good player. He’s had a great year this year for Tennessee. The games I’ve watched him play, outside of our games, he’s one of those kind of guys that wants to get off to a fast start. We knew coming in he likes to try to find a groove early. You got to be in his jersey from the time the ball goes up. He’s trying to get off to a great start.
Watching his Texas A&M game, he kind of got off to the start he got off to tonight. He had three early threes in our game tonight. He had 20 points at the half at A&M. Kept them in the game and put them in striking distance to win the game at College Station.
He is one of those guys. Has one of the quickest releases in all of college basketball. When he’s got it cooking, he’s a hard guard. They run him off with lot of wide pin-downs. He’s really good at making the reads and curls.”
On if it’s more difficult facing Zeigler and Mashack on quick turnarounds
“Those are older, seasoned, veteran guys. They’ve been through some battles, they’ve won a lot of ballgames.
Again, we’ve seen those guys four years, man. They make it extremely difficult for you to run your offense. If you let ’em play a little bit the way they played today in terms of having their hands on you, it’s even more tougher to get around those guys and deal with them.
You’ve got to be somewhere where the whistle is going to blow a little bit quicker in terms of backing them off. They’re some aggressive defenders. The minute they see they can play that way, it’s going to be a long night for you.”
On Chendall Weaver playing through an injury
“Chendall is the toughest player on our team. He brings toughness, energy, winning basketball, Texas basketball. He’s one of those guys, you basically have to have his leg cut off for him not to be on the floor. He’s going to be on the floor. He’s one of those guys like a Brock Cunningham that can play through no matter what. He’s going to be on that floor. He’s one of those guys that can play through injuries. He tweaked it again pretty good, that ankle. But he wanted to stay in the game, continue to play. He’s the toughest guy we have in that locker room.”
On if he thinks they’ve done enough to make the NCAA Tournament
“When you look at body of work, we have seven quad one wins. I think last year we got in with five quad one wins. We play in the best conference in the history of college basketball this season. Seven of those quad wins are against the field that’s going into the tournament.
Never say we had bad losses. I think we’ve done a pretty good job in terms of when we have lost, I think they’ve been pretty good. Ohio State, they’re a quad one loss, you know? South Carolina, they’re tough at home. That’s probably our one tough game.
Outside of that, we really didn’t have any losses that I think that were bad losses. No one wants to hear a bad loss. A loss is a loss, right? When you look at the profile, I think it’s pretty good in that regard.”
