Tennessee basketball associate head coach Justin Gainey met with the local media on Friday morning before the Vols leave for Nashville and a top 20 matchup against Illinois.
Ahead of the matchup, Gainey discussed what went wrong in the loss at Syracuse Tuesday night, Nate Ament searching for his footing and much more. Here’s everything Gainey said.
More From RTI: Some Morning After Thoughts On Tennessee Basketball’s Loss At Syracuse
On Tennessee cleaning up its turnover issues in Las Vegas, then having 17 turnovers in the loss at Syracuse
“Man, just as you go back and you watch the film, it was a lot of different things, whether it was offensive fouls, whether if it was miscues on passing, just like random turnovers, catching and passing or handing off and stuff like that. And so the only thing you really can attribute to is just like lack of focus, lack of attention to detail. And something that we’ve been intentional on cleaning up and it’s kind of reared its ugly head again it’s definitely something we’re focusing on and something we feel like we can take full control over. It was more of us than them forcing us into those turnovers. So definitely something.”
On Jaylen Carey’s improved play in Tennessee’s recent games
“Jaylen is a good player. And we knew that when we signed him. We knew that when we played against him. And we see flashes of it in practice. And so I think with Jay, he’s a very quiet guy, but he absorbs everything, he takes in everything and he’s real with himself. And it didn’t necessarily always take us pointing out some of the things where he needed to improve in. And the great thing about coach (Rick Barnes) is that he’s not going to compromise. Like you got to get to the standard, you got to get to the level. And Jaylen appreciated that and that’s why Jalen wanted to be here. And so in turn, it makes him better. And so excited for his performance there, thought he played well in Vegas. Now he’s got to keep it going and maintain that level of consistency, which we know he can. And it’s not just game to game. It’s day to day, practice to practice, every single day bringing it. And if he does that, he’ll be the player that he wants to be and that we all need him to be.”
On Rick Barnes saying Nate Ament was pressing, how he stops doing so
“I’m not sure, you know, what coach meant by pressing. He just has to, I would say just figure out how to make plays within the flow of the offense. A lot of times when you get guys that are naturally talented and gifted as Nate is, and you get to this level and the competition is a little different, right? The size and now you are in a system with other good players, right? You got to kind of figure out how to play within the system, within the flow of everything. And so that’s something that he’s learning and I think up until this point, I mean, he’s been great.
And so it’s always a learning, it’s always room to get better, room to improve. And the thing I love about Nate is he owns everything. He owns it. Whether he’s making shots or not. Missing shots. He’s probably the toughest on himself than anybody. Than coach, than me and anybody. And so he’s going to continue to improve. I think every game for him that he gets under his belt, he learns something. He’s a smart kid, a smart young man, I’m sorry. That absorbs things and is real with himself. He’s continuing to grow. We’re excited about his growth and it’s like all players, you’re going to have ups and downs, right? You just got to bounce back from it and learn from it.”
On the staff’s talking points with Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips since the Syracuse game
“Everybody, do your job, right? Everybody’s got a job to do. Do your job. And whether it’s being the best defender on the floor, being the best help defender on the floor, whether it’s rebounding. Whether it’s the one more pass making guys better, the message to everybody is do your job and be a star in your role. Whatever your role is, be a star.”
On the front court pairing of DeWayne Brown and Jaylen Carey
“It is good. It gives us a change up, right? It changes kind of the flow of things from when you have Cade and Fe(lix) give you that athletic twitchy group, and then you bring those two guys in who are really physical. I think they all complement each other. And then you add JP to that mix. I think you got a great group of front court depth. And so we’re excited about it. We’re excited to watch that continue to grow and be impactful.”
On if there’s any update on JP Estrella (right ankle), whether he could be available against Illinois
“No update to this point. So we just kind of, it’s day to day. I thought he, although he didn’t practice yesterday, great spirits. Very vocal in practice and is moving around a little bit. So we’ll see. But regardless, we got to be ready with whoever comes out there and improve on that performance from the other day.”
On if Cade Phillips’ shoulder is bothering him
“I think it’s something that’s kind of a lingering thing for him, right? I think it’s getting better, but he’s still limited in some things that he can and can’t do. I don’t think it’s right now to the point where he can’t play, but Cade’s tough. He’s mentally tough, he’s physically tough. He wants to be out there with his teammates, so he’s gonna figure it out.”
On how Tennessee’s non-conference schedule prepares it for SEC play
“It’s great. I think when you come to a place like Tennessee, that’s what you’re signing up for, to play in these types of games. In recruiting all these guys, we promised them that, ‘hey, we’re going to play on the biggest stage,’ and we’re holding that promise to them. I think it not only prepares you for the next games, the games to come, but for conference play, for (the) conference tournament, and also the NCAA tournament. You hope through those experiences that at the end, you’re better from it, and that there’s not a situation that you haven’t come across, an environment that you haven’t come across and you’re ready to adjust.”
On Ja’Kobi Gillespie saying Tennessee needs to play with purpose
“I can’t speak for Kob. I don’t know what exactly (he) means, like play with purpose, but what I’d say is this team is still trying to find their identity, right? I hate to talk about past teams, right? But those teams had guys that had been in the program for a while. They had an identity, they knew what the identity was. They were developed in that identity, right? And so I think for this team going through these tough times, these tough moments, adversity is good for ’em and within that they’ll find who they are as individuals and who they are as a team.
“So for me, as a coach, I think we’ve been clear with the communication of the purpose. The purpose is to get better every game. To play team-selfless basketball and to be the hardest playing team in the country. After that, there’s nothing else to worry about. You figure everything out. I think you just gotta lock in on that, on a day-to-day basis, lose yourself in the game and then, you know, let the chips fall where they may. But I think if we do that, we’ll be happy with the results (and) the outcome at the end of the day.”
