Tennessee basketball is riding a three-game winning entering Tuesday night’s matchup against Ole Miss at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Ahead of the matchup, both associate head coach Justin Gainey and junior power forward Jaylen Carey.
Gainey discussed playing without Ja’Kobi Gillespie, the team’s improving leadership and much more. Carey discussed his knee injury, a bounce back performance against Auburn and more. Here’s everything the duo said.
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Justin Gainey
On Tennessee playing without point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie for stretches in the second half, beating Auburn despite the foul trouble
“I thought the guys did a good job of just stepping up, kind of next man up. I think Bishop has continued to grow his game in a lot of different spaces. And we feel comfortable with him as the point guard at times. And even when Ja’Kobi is in the game sometimes you’ll see (Boswell) is the primary ball handler to give Kobe a break. But just in general, to see our guys weather adversity throughout that whole game was promising. We’ve had moments in the past where a little adversity hit and we didn’t respond how we should have. So it shows growth, it shows development and really excited about that. Just got to continue to keep getting better and stay out of foul trouble.”
On how much Bishop Boswell being able to play point guard helps this Tennessee team, Ja’Kobi Gillespie playing some off the ball
“Yeah, it is. And I think the more that Bishop continues to get more comfortable with, it can add a whole new dimension to our team. Because, I mean, as deadly as Ja’Kobi is with the ball in his hands, I think he could be just as deadly off the ball as well, with his ability to catch and shoot and play out of spot-up situations. So it just added a different dynamic to our offense, I think, if we can do that.”
On how Bishop Boswell has surprised him the most from his time as a recruit to now
“I’ve always known his competitive nature. And that was the thing I thought that stuck out when I recruited him. He was a competitor. Hated to lose, was a team guy, didn’t really bother him what his role was because it changed a lot with his AAU team. It changed some with his high school team. But he always was just focused on winning. And so knew that’s what we were getting, a winner.
And his basketball feel, his basketball IQ is something that you can kind of gauge it when you’re recruiting, but you get a much better feel when you’re with him every day. And so that’s something — especially like defensive instincts — that’s something that has, like, man, he’s on a whole other level. I always knew he had a good feel, had a good IQ, but it’s on a whole other level.”
On if there’s a feeling on how long Tennessee center Felix Okpara will be out with his calf injury
“I don’t know. I don’t know. We’d have to ask Chad (Newman) on that. I hadn’t talked to him this morning.”
On Tennessee overcoming adversity in its three-game win streak, but has led to the Vols being better in that area
“I just think just going through the experiences. This is a new group that we’ve got together here. And in the past, those groups have been together for a while, and they knew what to do when adversity hit. They knew where to look and what to look for. This group just hadn’t been through those experiences together. And it’s hard to simulate, impossible to simulate, that in practice. And we do the best that we can. Coach (Rick Barnes) does it the best that he can at creating some type of adversity, adverse situations in practice. But in the game it’s hard to simulate exactly what it feel like in the game. So that’s one of those things you’ve got to go through it and you got to learn from it and grow from it and see it on film and see what it feels like for it not to work out, before you experience that growth in it.”
On if Tennessee forwards Jaylen Carey and DeWayne Brown can carry over confidence from their performance against Auburn
“I think both of those guys are confident guys. I think the entire team, entire program knows what they can do and what they’re capable of. And so I think they’re already confident in that. I think we learned that next man, next man up mentality is real. And those guys stepped up in a major way because Felix is so important to everything we do offensively and a big part of defensively. So for those guys to be able to hold it down during that game without Fee speaks volumes to them and them being ready. And Jaylen was a little banged up too with the knee from Alabama so he’s still working back, but he was able to fight through and give us everything he had. And obviously, DeWayne is just consistent, man. You know what you’re gonna get from him. He brings it every day. And just it does nothing but help our team when those two guys can bring that consistency to that level.”
On finding the line of playing hard without fouling
“It’s a thin line, right? It’s a thin line, but I’d say a couple of the fouls that we had, specifically fouling the three-point shooters, kind of uncharacteristic. We hadn’t really had a problem with that. I think it was unique in the sense of how No. 7 (Keyshawn Hall) kind of would kick his feet out on the shot a little bit. He had a kind of an awkward shot. And the same with zero (Tahaad Pettiford). They had some shots that kind of baited you into fouling. So those are really the ones that, they drive you crazy, right? Because the other ones, I mean, we’re playing hard. Just you may just foul, but the four-point plays and the and-ones are the ones where it’s like we got to be able to clean up.”
On if the staff anticipated them being as good an offensive rebounding team as they have been
“I mean, that was our goal when we went into the portal. We wanted to get, we wanted to be better rebounding on both sides, and just adding size and physicality, and so that was our intent. And we’re excited that it is playing out in that favor. We know how important that part of the game is to what we do. So, we kinda, we went into the market, went into the portal with that game plan. Now it’s good to see that the guys we identified as being those kind of guys, that they’re doing it. So we just got to keep going.”
On what Nate Ament is doing differently to better handle physicality
“Man, Nate’s one of those everyday guys as well, you know? And I think just the experience, the everyday repetitions, the game reps, all of that stuff. He’s just continuing to get confidence just with every bounce, with every practice, with every game. I don’t know, like, if he’s doing anything dramatically different. I know he’s spending more time with Garrett (Medenwald) in the weight room on off days, after games, all of that stuff.
And so yeah, I think weight training, weight lifting, physically, it does get you stronger, but it also adds from a mental standpoint. You have a lot more confidence in yourself from that standpoint. So I don’t know if there’s anything drastically different he’s doing. But he’s an everyday guy, and I think the more he gets comfortable, the more he just figures it out. He gets more comfortable with it.”
On what stands out about Ole Miss
“They’re playing a lot of guys, and a lot of guys have been productive for them. They have Storr, who is a high-level scorer. They got shooting. They can kind of attack you in a lot of different ways. And so us just be prepared to, one, do what we do. But also be ready to make adjustments as we need to because they’ve had success in different ways, and they’ve been in some games where they, it didn’t come out in their favor, but, man, they were right there to win.
So it’s a good team. It’s a well-coached team. Coach Beard’s a great coach, and we expect for them to come out and be a really good one.”
Jaylen Carey
On if his knee has been feeling okay since he injured it at Alabama
“Yeah, just getting treatment with (trainer) Chad (Newman) every day, like twice a day. It’s feeling better, for sure.”
On what he feels like he did well against Auburn
“Just doing what Coach has asked me to do — duck in early, rebound, play with energy. Just be the dog.”
On the frontcourt having a big game despite Felix Okpara not being able to play
“It just shows how strong we are. What we do every day in practice, it shows in the game. Just doing it more consistently is a big emphasis.”
On if Felix Okpara isn’t available Tuesday night against Ole Miss, if he believes the frontcourt can continue to play like it did against Auburn
“For sure. It just starts in practice, starts today in practice, being able to consistently do it every day and every game.”
On how impressive freshman forward DeWayne Brown was against Auburn
“Just doing what he does in practice. He’s a big guy just like myself and J.P. Estrella and Fe. So yeah, we all go at each other in practice every day, which makes us better for us to do what we do out there in the game.”
On what he thought about Auburn coach Steven Pearl referring to Carey and DeWayne Brown as SEC defensive ends
“Yeah, we probably could go out there and play defensive end, but we love basketball. So it was cool.”
On the way Carey and Brown attacked the basket against Auburn
“It’s just something that we’ve done our whole life, just just the way we’re built, so just carrying it from practice to (the) game and just being dominant, really.”
On if he feels the other team becoming more fatigues throughout the game because of his physicality
“Oh, yeah, for sure it wears down on them. Our emphasis is, like, in the first half, everybody has energy. They’re ready to hit. But when it comes to that second half, their body breaks down from all the body blows and stuff like that. So, yeah.”
On if that mindset comes from more of their training or mentality
“It’s both really, because you really can’t train for getting hit all day. You can, but not like when you’re built like me, DB, J.P. and Felix.”
On how much pride Tennessee takes in being one of the best rebounding teams in the country
“Yeah, it’s something I’ve always took pride in. Good teams usually rebound the ball at a high level, especially offensive rebounds, because your best offense can be when you’re not hitting shots and making layups and stuff like that, you can always offensive rebound and just get extra shots like that.”
On what Tennessee has learned by Rick Barnes holding Ja’Kobi Gillespie out of recent practices to help the team learn to play without him
“That we can do it, even when Ja’Kobi is not doing what he does normally. We are able to step up and help the team get a win. And like you said, we showed it the other night.”
On how rewarding it is for the team to battle through foul trouble
“Yeah, we’ve emphasized that we’ve been fouling a lot, giving teams extra shots, especially on those three pointers. Coach (Barnes) likes to say you’re an idiot (if) you foul three-point shooters. So just stop doing stuff like that, and just being better.”
On how he has seen Tennessee sophomore guard Bishop Boswell step up when Ja’Kobi Gillespie is dealing with foul trouble
“It’s huge. Bishop does it a lot in practice where he brings the ball up running the point guard when Ja’Kobi sits out for a few reps. He does what he does in practice. He’s just handling the ball, running the team, running the offense, just getting everybody where they need to be.”
On Bishop Boswell’s most underrated strength
“His mid-range, really, and being able to get everybody connected. We kind of listen to him a lot in the huddle. He’s kind of like a voice that we use in the huddle and on the court.”
On how confident Tennessee is that when somebody misses a shot, somebody on their team is getting the offensive rebound
“Pretty confident. Like you said, we’re the best offensive-rebound team in the country, so we’re pretty confident whatever shot we shoot, we’re gonna be able to go get it. Either me, DB, J.P. or Felix.”
