Tennessee basketball associate head coach Justin Gainey met with the local media Wednesday morning before the Vols leave for Philadelphia and the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
Ahead of the matchup, Gainey discussed preparing for two different teams, Nate Ament’s health status and much more. Here’s everything Gainey said.
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On how Tennessee coaches will watch tonight’s SMU-Miami (Ohio) First Four game from a scouting perspective
“Yeah, it’d be from a scouting perspective, obviously. And (it’s) two really good teams. I think it’ll be a good matchup because they both want to play fast. They both want to play in space and shoot a lot of three. So it’ll be an interesting game to watch.”
On if any scouting information is given to Tennessee players before the opponent is determined
“We usually wait until we know our opponent. As far as practice goes, we’ll try to put in some concepts from both teams, without telling them, ‘Hey, this is what they do.’ Just kind of having them guard some type of concepts or attack different types of concepts. But in the SEC you got so many different styles of play that there’s really not much we haven’t seen. And if there is, it’s just a small sample of it. So we feel pretty prepared through what we’ve done through the season, and at the end of this, I mean, at this time of year it’s about us, right? It’s about us and us doing what we do.”
On how SMU guard and Tennessee transfer BJ Edwards is a different player compared to three years ago when he was a freshman with the Vols
“BJ was always a good player. When he was here, we really loved him. We didn’t want to see him go. (We) understood his decision, but always saw the vision and the potential that he had. And it’s awesome to see him kind of living that out and doing what he does. And just excited for him, excited for his family, and wish him and hope he gets healthy.”
On what stands out about this SMU team
“The two guards are dynamic. Boopie (Miller) and (Jaron) Pierre, those two guys are dynamic guards that can play and start for just about any team in the country. And so those guys kind of jump off the page at you. The big kid inside, No. 24 (Samet Yigitoglu), his size, he’s massive, moves pretty good and is good around the basket, and he really jumps off too. But their starting five is averaging double-figures and they rely heavy on those guys. So it’s a balanced attack coming at you, but they don’t rely a lot on their depth. But those six guys or seven guys are really good and all of them can get double-figures. So it’s a balanced, deep team.”
On if scouting Jermaine O’Neal Jr. makes him feel old
“Man, it does. His dad and I were in the same class, same high school class. So if coaching my son didn’t make me feel old, seeing some other guys in my class and going against their son, it does.”
On Tennessee’s practice on Monday, Rick Barnes saying it would be a good work day
“It was good. We started out with some film. Kind of watched areas where we could have been, should have been, have to be better. And I think they did carry it on the court. Coming off of two days off, there will be a little rust, right? So there was a little rust to get going. But I felt like once the guys got going up and down, they kind of settled in and adjusted. Thought it was a really good work day.”
On the importance of Nate Ament knocking rust off in the SEC Tournament
“I do. I do. I think more than anything, he wanted to do it. He wanted to play in the last home game against Vandy, right? And so I think for him, personally, getting out there and being able to do it was huge for his mental, for his psyche, for his confidence, and just knowing, like, ‘Hey, okay, I’m good, right?’ And so heading into this weekend he feels confident about it, and he’s still around the clock treatment with Chad and with G and those guys. But I think there’s a little level of comfort and feel confident about the leg.”
On trying to keep Nate Ament’s confidence high after struggles against Vanderbilt
“At this point in the season, I think he has grown a lot. He understands his game. He understands his spots, and so that’s the toughest part, getting to your spot right, and then make or miss. You’ll make your adjustments. You’ll make your tweaks, and it just felt like against that in a Vanderbilt game, he didn’t have the lift, the pop at the end when he got there, right? And I think some of that might have been the rust, the fatigue, the back-to-backs and everything. So him identifying, hey, I got to my spots. I just didn’t knock them down, shows that he is conscious of where his spots are. And so it’s just being rested, having the strength to be able to finish it. And I think he’s in a good position. And the great thing about the NCAA Tournament is you get a day off in between as well. So I think that bodes well for everybody.”
On what Bishop Boswell needs to do to get back on track
“I would say for him, just being who he is, not losing focus or site on who he is and what he is, and what helped him to be playing at that level at that time. And I think it was just his defensive mindset, like, let the offense come. It will come, it will find you. But being the best defender out on the court, losing yourself on the defensive end, and allowing that to be your identity and everything else kind of falls in place and so again, it’s easy to lose focus on it sometimes when the offense is coming and the opportunities come, and hey, you may miss one or two I feel like if he just keeps his his his mind on the defensive side, whether he makes or miss, he won’t be phased by it, because at end of day, he knows what he hangs his hat on, and so just losing himself in that, let the offense come, take good shots— which I think he’s been doing — and stay confident.”
On is Boswell is trying to do too much with his bad pass turnovers
“I wouldn’t say it’s too much, right, because, you know, the ones that he’s made have been more of initiating offense, or just kind of getting the ball moving a little bit. I wouldn’t say they were attacking, probing situations. I just think he has to, just I don’t know, stay locked in with it and staying in the moment and and just really valuing the possession, valuing the basketball, and like the one with to DeWayne, it was just kind of a misread. DeWayne looked away at the last second. I don’t know who to put the blame on that, right. But at the end of the day, it ended up being Bishop’s turnover. And so I don’t, some of those things are kind of flukey, but I think for him, just being cautious and maybe not cautious, but just being alert to, man, I got to take care of the basketball, and I got to make eye contact with my pass or whatever. Take all the precautions.”
On how they go about deciding whether to challenge a play
“Yeah, we have our analytics team sitting behind the bench. They don’t get as much notoriety as others, but they’re back there with their iPads and, you know, they’re kind of given us, you know, their recommendation on whether we should or shouldn’t make the review.”
On if Tennessee would be able to focus on themselves because it doesn’t know its first-round opponent, or if it would rather have all week to prepare
“Well, you know, for us, from a scouting standpoint, for the players, we introduce it two days out, so that necessarily won’t change, as far as our introduction to the opponent. From a coach’s standpoint, we break up the teams that are in our bracket, right? That are in our side of the bracket. Each coach has a team. So I’ve been studying my team all week. Coach (Gregg) Polinsky has been studying his team all week, right? And Coach (Amorrow) Morgan as well. So, you know, we still get that same preparation from a coaching standpoint. It just becomes a little more condensed with this play-in format, but we’ll still get a day and a half to kind of prep.”
“At this time of year, it’s about us, right? It’s about us. We’ve seen all the different concepts that can come at you. We’ve played guys similar to what we’re going to see in the tournament. And so, you know, to help our guys with that, we try to associate a guy on the upcoming team with somebody who (we) already played. So that kind of helps put our guys in that mindset. But from a prep standpoint, we’ll be fine.”
On what stands out about Miami (Ohio)
“Their pace, and then just their ability to score or shoot the ball. I think Coach (Travis) Steele has done a really good job with this group. Spacing the floor, shooting it the way they shoot it, but they’re also really good on the offensive glass, which I don’t think they get enough credit for. They crash the glass relentlessly. They get extra possessions. And you know, they have a couple guys in there that do the dirty work, that finish put-backs around the basket, and get the offensive boards that they might not get the credit, but they’re just as important as the guys that are making the shots, that are taking those three balls.
“So they’re good. They’re good. Anytime you can go undefeated in a season, you’re a good team. I don’t care what league you’re in, I don’t care who you’re playing, because you’re getting everybody’s best shot every single night. They know what that feels like and they’re still able to walk out, whether at home or on the road, with the win.
“So great team, great coach, and you know, like I said, it’ll be a really good game against SMU. I’m looking forward to watching it tonight.”
