Tennessee basketball is coming off one of its best win of the young season by defeating Louisville 83-62 on Tuesday night. Assistant coach Steve McClain and freshman guard Troy Henderson met with the local media on Friday morning to recap the matchup against Louisville and preview Sunday’s matchup against Gardner-Webb.
The duo discussed the challenges of the nine days off before the Louisville game, young players starting to find their role and much more. Here’s everything McClain and Henderson said.
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Steve McClain
On Tennessee’s defensive improvement against Louisville
“Well, I think you, you saw a group that was really connected. The bigs, the guards, everyone doing their job. It’s a pretty simple thing when you really look at it, when everybody’s doing their job. And coaches use that term, but it’s the truth. You’ve got to do your job. If you’re the guard and it’s a ball screen, are you into the ball? If you’re the big and you’re supposed to be up, are you up? And Coach Gainey did a great job of preparing our team for every action they ran and we had an answer for it and stayed locked in for the whole game.”
On how satisfying it was to play that way after Tennessee had nine days of practice
“Well, I think you’re always looking for progress. The other term that gets used in coaching a lot is it’s a process. Well, it is a process, especially when you look at the number of new players we have in this program this year. And so to watch them take nine days of practice and get better and grow, it’s a great sign for our team. And the best part was to see some guys that hadn’t played a lot really grow and be able to come in and contribute in a big-time game.”
On Tennessee guard Ethan Burg taking a step forward against Louisville, how he can sustain it
“You used the word right there, sustain it. It, it can’t be a one day thing, it can’t be every other day. And hopefully he saw that sustaining it for nine days in practice and then it carries over to the game. Now we sustain it for two great practices before the next game. And that’s a maturity. And that’s him learning. Everybody says they value practice, Coach Barnes values practice and what you do in practice will determine whether you’re going to play. And so I think he saw grow in practice in Ethan, so then he trusted him in the game and he delivered.
On what kind of growth they saw in Ethan Burg during practice last week
“Being solid. On the offensive end, making simple plays and then on defense guarding without fouling.”
On how much Tennessee’s rotation benefits when Ethan Burg and Amaree Abram are playing well defensively
“There’s no question it gives us a chance to get Nate (Ament) out of the game for a little bit, get Ja’Kobi (Gillespie) a minute break. And really at the end of the first half (against Louisville), where we had both Nate and Ja’Kobi on the bench, those guys really stepped up and finished the half and didn’t give Louisville any hope right there at the end of the half. So it definitely, for building where we want to go in January, February, March and April, that depth’s got to keep coming.”
On where Tennessee needs to keep growing over the next two non-conference games, before SEC play starts in January
“You just want to see everything carry over and it gets easy when you’ve lost games to (say), ‘Man, what’s wrong?’ And yet you were growing even when you lost some games. And then to take the nine days of practice, now play Louisville, and know what’s coming, everybody knows what’s coming. You’re going to play an NCAA Tournament game every night in the SEC. So now can you approach Gardner-Webb the right way? Can you approach South Carolina State the right way. The distractions of Christmas, the distractions of travel, and keep that mindset. And that’s going to be the challenge for this group.”
On who other than Ethan Burg is doing a good job adjusting to Rick Barnes
“Well, I think you, you saw growth in Jaylen Carey and, you go back to sustain consistency. Do you bring it every day? And everybody thinks you ought to be able to just do that overnight. It doesn’t happen overnight when someone hasn’t been held to that standard. It’s going to take them a while and they’ll play good, but then they got to learn, well then the next day you still got to come back and be the same guy. And that’s where Amari (Evans) and even Troy (Henderson).
Troy had a great five minutes the other night and that was a big step for him because all that goes back to your question, out depth continuing to get better that no one can look at our team and go, well, if we can take him out of the game, then we hurt them. No, you can’t. And so I think you could go through all those young guys and say they all took a big step during those nine days.”
On if Amari Evans has a foul trouble or is just playing 100 mph
“Well he might have a foul problem. He fouls all the time, so, but no I think that’s just learning and he’s so aggressive and just little things of getting his hands out instead of always being in, but it’s also why he’s starting to get on that court because if you watch when that ball goes up on for a shot, he going to try to get it every time and he’s flying in there like it’s the last thing he wants to do. And that’s what we need out of him. And that’s another great example of a young player finding what coach wants and that’ll get me on the court and he’s doing it now.”
On what he likes about this team
“Well, coach keeps saying it and we all know it. We’ve got great kids and they’re not kids. They’re young men and you watch them interact with people. You watch them before games, you watch them deal with little kids, you watch them deal with parents. They’re unbelievable people. And here’s where I evaluate them, most people only see them in the good times. Hey, I’ve seen them walk out and they didn’t play well. They knew they didn’t play well. They still take the time. They know it matters. That’s the cool part for me. We’ve got great young men.”
On what it’s going to take for JP Estrella to be better defensively
“Well, some of it has been, and I’m not going to make an excuse for JP, but you got to practice to play good. And we had to hold him out of some practices. He doesn’t play at Syracuse. When he was in his getting to his rhythm in Houston and that right there, he was guarding really well. And now I think when we get back and he’s starting to have more and more practices where he can go full speed, his defense will improve and and his offense will improve. And so I I think it’s just the reps on the court.”
On where he has seen Nate Ament make the most progress
“The average fan evaluates Nate off one thing, what? Points. They don’t see the passes, they don’t see the plays that he makes off the ball. They don’t see that other guys are getting opportunities because people are so locked in on him. But where I see his growth, he’s starting to figure out where his shots are coming and now he’s shooting them with confidence. And again, everybody wants that to happen overnight. It doesn’t happen overnight. You’re talking about an 18-year-old young man that everybody built up, that now has been the attention of every team. That’s not an easy thing to do, to be a freshman, and you’re here on the scouting report. You’d love to be like the kid at Illinois, (Keaton) Wagler. I love him, he’s a freshman. His uncle played for me. But he has no pressure when he plays.
He’s got four veteran guys out there and he’s just kind of out there going, ‘I’m open, I’m gonna shoot it.’ This is fun. Whereas Nate’s had to have the pressure and grow, and what you see is him learning where his shots are coming and then finishing them at a high level. What I love about him, whether it’s going good or bad, you have no idea because his expressions never change. He’s locked in and he only cares about one thing: winning. That’s all he cares about. He could care less if he’s got 12 points, 13 points, zero points. He wants to win.”
On the transition of adjusting to being at the top of other team’s scouting reports
“Well, it’s an unbelievable transition and it’s really hard. There’s veteran players that can’t deal with it. We’ve all coached them. Ja’Kobi deals with the same thing every game. Those two are at the top of everybody’s scout report and how are we gonna stop them. And that’s where I think the growth of our other guys is really what’s gonna make us become a team that could play for a national championship. Because those two are gonna keep being who they are. You’re not gonna affect Ja’Kobi and Nate. So now the growth out of the rest of ’em is really what’s gonna change us down the road.
“So I think Nate has handled it well. I think in high school he was treated that way, but now he’s seeing it at another level. The greatest thing you can talk about — and it goes back to your question about this group of young men — yesterday was their day off and they’re all in the gym working on their own. There isn’t anybody satisfied, ‘well, we beat Louisville.’ No, I gotta get in and get better every day. And Nate is for sure one of those guys, he was in here twice yesterday. Like, he’s hungry for more and knows he’s gotta get better.”
Troy Henderson
On the significance of the next two games before SEC play begins
“It’s very important. We’re not looking ahead to SEC play. We taking one game at a time, and we just trying to play at the highest level so we can get ready for SEC play.”
On what he did well without scoring against Louisville
“Just playing my role. Coach Barnes asked me to play my role, so I just came in with the mindset of play defense and just take advantage of my opportunities when they come.”
On what his role is
“94 feet, picking up guarding the other team’s best guard taking advantage of my open looks and running the show offense.”
On the adjustment of learning what will get him on the court
“I’ve been learning every day. Every day in practice, I’ve been taking a step towards that, like trying to affect the game without scoring because like I’ve been scoring all my life, so it’s been a big adjustment. But I’ve been adjusting well, trying to just find my role on this team and just do whatever it takes to win the game.”
On how he’s seen Nate Ament handle the pressure, being on the top of the scouting report
“He’s been handling it well. We took three losses recently, and the week we had 10 days to prepare for Louisville and them 10 days was amazing for Nate. He had a smile on his face. He picked up his talk during practice, and he’s been that leader.”
On how good of a passer Ament is
“He’s an amazing passer. I mean, he’s 6-foot-10 so he can see over anybody to make the pass. Coach Barnes always preached that, like post entry passes, when the defenders crowding him, he can see it because he’s 6-foot-10, so he’s an amazing passer.”
On vocal leadership being a point of emphasis before the Louisville game
“It was big because Coach Barnes was testing a lot of players, so we took it upon ourselves to, like be that leader and make sure, if somebody is going through it like we pick them up and just think next play mentality.”
On what nine days of practice with Coach Barnes was like after three straight losses
“It was very tough. It was some practices where it was like, dang, we going to have to get through it as a team, because individually, you’re not going to be able get through the practices. So you need a team to really get through it.”
On his biggest takeaway from Tennessee’s nine days off between games this month
“Tennessee basketball is really hard.”
On Tennessee’s freshman class that Rick Barnes speaks highly of
“I feel like we have a very special freshman class because off the court, it’s just our camaraderie and the way we hang out, and just that brotherhood we got. So I feel like off the court is helping us on the court to really combine and do good on the court.”
On the entire team coming in to work on their day off
“To be here on an off day and work out and lift weights and stuff like that, I’m just getting ready for the opportunity to step on the court and display what I have to show.”
On how much he has getting matched up with Nate Ament in practice given they played together in high school
“It’s fun. You know, I give Nate a hard time. I talk under my breath, not out loud, but I talk to him in practice and just trying to get in his head the best I can, because it’s really fun.”
On if he’s able to get in Ament’s head
“Not really. Nate’s quiet. He don’t really show emotion. So, I mean, I do the best I can.”
On if Tennessee freshman wing Amari Evans has a bash brother type of vibe to him
“Yeah, he’s physical. He shows in practice, like I try to box him out and he tries to run through me, and it’s just, he’s very physical.”
On what it feels like when someone like Evans tries to run through him
“It’s not a good feeling. It’s not a good feeling at all.”
On how much the team has been able to gel together during the nine days off in between the Illinois and Louisville games
“Yeah, we took those nine days as a team, and we just took it on the chin, because we went through a stretch where we were losing, so we had to change something. So we changed off the court activities, like we hung out together more and just finding that leadership role.”
On how the team leans on each other when they’re going through hard practices together
“We lean on each other. Like I said, Nate Ament, he did a good job with that. Like when players were down, or Coach Barnes was getting on them heavy, Nate took it and kept a smile on his face and built that player up.”
