Coming off the win over Auburn on Saturday afternoon, Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey and sophomore guard Jahmai Mashack met with the media on Monday afternoon on the court of Thompson Boling Arena.
Gainey led off the media event and spoke about Tennessee’s ability to bounce back from the Florida loss against Auburn, despite the offensive challenges that came up along the way. Gainey spoke about the team not trying to press on offense, staying positive in the huddle, and much more.
Mashack, on the other hand, spoke about different aspects of confidence from the team. The sophomore guard said that, for one, winning the game against Auburn despite shooting less than 31 percent from the field gives the team confidence moving forward. Mashack also said that confidence isn’t something that the team is lacking after knowing fully what happens at practice and the belief they have in one another.
“Obviously, it’s something we talk about during film sessions, during practice, and stuff like that,” Mashack said about the offensive inconsistency. “But I wouldn’t say it’s a concern because we know how much work we put in. And I think it’s just coming altogether. Once we clicked on the mental side of it, and just take our time on the offensive end, not getting too high, too low with misses – because it happens, it’s basketball – I think that’s when we are going to take our offensive game to the next level.”
No. 5 Tennessee (19-4, 8-2 SEC) will head to Nashville for a mid-week clash against Vanderbilt (11-12, 4-6 SEC) this Wednesday evening for a game at 7:01 p.m. ET.
The Volunteers defeated Vanderbilt by a score of 77-68 in Knoxville back in mid-January.
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Check out the full interviews from Justin Gainey and Jahmai Mashack below.
