Tennessee basketball assistant coach Rod Clark met with the media on Friday afternoon before the Vols host No. 20 Illinois at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center for a marquee non conference matchup.
The top 20 showdown is the first big home game of Tennessee’s season and pits two of the oldest, most physically imposing teams in the country against one another.
Before the showdown, Clark discusses the star Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr, the progression of Tennessee’s Jonas Aidoo and much more. Here’s everything Clark said.
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On Tennessee playing faster this season, importance of bringing freshmen along
“It’s big for us. Obviously it was a point of emphasis throughout the summer, for us to play faster, to kind of pick up our tempo. We feel like we have good depth. I think it has been able to be on display, so making sure that we’re able to play at a really good pace, get up and down the floor, use as many bodies as we can with also keeping a strong group on the floor. That’s, that’s always gonna be a big thing for us.
“And I think the freshmen have been doing a solid job of coming along, but, you know, man, like, if I’m being honest, for a freshman in college basketball, I think about being like 19. And you played the No. 1 team in the country, the No. 2 team in the country. I think North Carolina was 17. Wisconsin is obviously playing really well. Your first game really was Michigan State on the road, who at the time was top five. So I’m happy with them. We always want more out of them, but if you’re kind of thinking like a human about it, it’s like what freshman has to deal with that? So I think they done an unbelievable job just kind of understanding that they got to follow the older guys, watch them and learn from those situations.”
On what Tennessee coaches have seen from scouting this Illinois team
“First of all, really good team we got coming in. Really good team. I think they’re big, they’re versatile. They have a lot of guys that can play multiple positions. You know, their five man sometimes can look like their point guard. Their point guard can sometimes look like their five man. Their two guard can look like a four man. And those are, in today’s day and age in positionless basketball is, that’s what everybody wants. That’s what we’ve tried to mimic as we’ve continued with our team. So they’re a really good team, man.
“They do a lot of funky things defensively. They’re very handsy. I think they’re No. 1 in the country in field goal defense. So we’ll have our hands full, man. They’re a really good team. We’re excited to have them come in here.”
On if Jahmai Mashack is still trying to figure out his role on this Tennessee team
“I don’t think it’s any confusion with what he needs to bring defensively. I think offensively it’s always tough when you’re, I would say since he’s been here, him and Josiah James have changed roles more than anybody in our program. And Josiah has had some time to really figure it out. And Shack has kind of had to do it on the fly. And I think that he’s still trying to find himself when it comes to that. But I think it’s a matter of understanding how to play off of other guys right now and not feel like he has a burden of creating, which, you know, he’s running the point for us, he’s running the four, he’s played the two and the three. But being able to play off of guys like Dalton and play off Santi and play off of Jordan, he’s just trying to find that balance right now. And he will, I don’t doubt it at all. He just needs time, just like a lot of these kids.”
On what’s allowing Josiah-Jordan James to play some of the best basketball of his Tennessee career
“Number one, health. Jo has been healthy. He’s been extremely motivated, which has been great. Jo is an older guy, so it’s a lot of comfortability he has on the floor, and it’s a lot of, you know, he doesn’t have any insecurities with his game because he kind of knows who he is. But it is been amazing to watch him, man. I think he’s shooting like two less threes (per game) than he averaged last year. And he’s making about the same amount. I say all the time that more than anything, the production of our front court has been amazing when it comes to Josiah, Dalton and Jonas. They’ve been rock solid. They’ve been really steady and our back court is coming along behind them. But Josiah has, I think, been the most important guy for our team this year, honestly.”
On what Cade Phillips has done to earn a role as a freshman
“With Cade, I think that the best thing you can do as a freshman, I tell our freshmen this all the time, is we know what we can get from you every time we put you on the floor. You know what I mean? I think that you have to be secure in who you are as a freshman. You have to be willing to understand that your job has to be simplified. It’s not about scoring. It’s not about you making a home run play. We know that every time Cade’s going check in, he’s gonna play really hard. He’s going to defend, he’s going to be physical and that’s his floor right there. If he does anything above that, it’s great. We’ll take it. I think right now with Freddie and Cam and JP we’re trying to help them understand that there has to be a floor in which we know what we can get from you every time you step on the floor. Like it can’t be any discretion or any indecisiveness on what you’re gonna bring. We gotta know, and that’s the comfort in Cade right now, is that we know exactly what we’re gonna get from him when we put him on the floor.”
On what it’s going to take for Freddie Dilione to get to that point
“I think a lot of it is just gonna come down to reps. You know, all of the freshmen need reps. Freddie’s been hurt. He’s missed some time. He’s, you know, at a position where like he has more to learn than anybody, and playing behind Zakai, I think at times Zakai makes some things look really easy, that aren’t very easy for a freshman. And with that being said, Zakai struggled with them when he was a freshman, when he had time to adapt and understand it. So Freddie right now just has to get in the groove, get more time. I think that this is gonna be a big game for him because with his size and his ball handling ability, I think he’ll be really good for us in this game. But we have to have him understanding that, like, defending every possession is a big deal. That’s what we need from him. And I mean, you guys have been at practice, man. When Freddie really locks in and pays attention to that side of the ball, he’s a high level defender. It’s a matter of him understanding that your attention span can’t lack when you get to that end of the floor.”
On the excitement surrounding Jonas Aidoo’s last few games
“I actually told a few people that I thought that Jonas was gonna be one of our most important guys coming in this year. And I felt like he was gonna make that jump. And so far I’ve been right. Jonas from his freshman year to now, he has learned how to put work in and put time in to his game. He’s put a lot of time in his body. He’s another guy that has been able to be healthy, which has helped him a ton. His confidence is really high right now. And I think that coach, honestly, over the last month has done an incredible job of building him up and helping him understand like, we got confidence in you and we need you to be a really good player. And Jonas is fed off of the game. He’s been really good because of it. Again, it was great to see him having a career high the other night, made both his threes, which those were his first two makes of the season, which we need Jonas opening that element of the game for us because we know how good of a shooter he is. So for him to be able to display it in a game, you know, that was great. And I’d love to say it was probably gonna be back in our home rims. So it’s gonna be nice for us to play at home and not play on somebody else’s court or a neutral floor. It’s gonna be good to be at home and see if he can continue to build off of that energy and the work he’s put in.”
On the challenges Terrence Shannon presents
“We played against him two years ago when he was at Texas Tech. It was a low-scoring game. He still found a way to be up near 20 (points). I think he had 17 in the game. Terrence Shannon is really good, man. He’s good getting downhill. He’s really athletic. He’s really strong. He’s physical and, I say this when we’re scouting and things, I told our team yesterday, ‘Hey, we gotta keep him off our left hand. Fellas, I’m not a dummy. It’s easier said than done.’ Like, we can say all day, ‘Hey, we’re gonna keep him off his left.’ I mean, everybody in the country says they’re gonna keep him off his left and every game you turn on the TV and he’s going downhill with his left hand, right? So it’s pretty hard.
“But I think preparing our guys in the best way as possible, trying to limit his opportunities, limit his touches, make every catch really tough. Make every drive, make him see bodies, is a big thing for us. But Terrance Shannon is good, man. He’s playing like All-American right now. I’m a huge fan of his game. He’s a really good player. He’s a Chicago kid I’ve seen for some years. It’s gonna be a fun opportunity. I think our guys are ready for the challenge, man. They love any opportunity they have to play against a high-level player.
On if Zakai Zeigler is starting to look more like himself each game out:
“1,000 percent. He’s starting to look comfortable. And, you know, I was saying this the other night. I was at home, I think I was talking to my wife about it. I was like, ‘man, the dude has played eight games off of a torn ACL’ and you know, I know some folks have been hard on him, like, ‘Zakai doesn’t look like (himself). ‘You gotta remember, man, 15 years ago, this was an injury that kept people from playing the rest of their careers, you know, and he came back in record time and just like the freshman, his first few games off of his injury were playing against some of the top teams in the country. I think that keeping him emotionally checked in has been good and making sure he is not too hard on himself ’cause I think we all know he can be very critical of himself throughout these years, but he’s kind of settled in and he’s getting his pace back and he’s starting to look like Zakai from the end of the season last year. And it’s been good to see ’cause we need that. I think that if you say what’s the biggest thing that we need right now is a table setter. Someone that can calm us down in these big games and help us execute late. It’s been great, man, seeing him kind of come back to form, honestly.
On how much comfort he has as a coach going up against a guy like Terrence Shannon Jr. when he has defenders like Josiah-Jordan James and Jahmai Mashack
“I said it last year, man, I sleep really well going into these games, I really do. Because we have really competitive guys. We have guys that take pride in guarding and they love matchups. I say all the time, I was joking with Josiah after practice, you know, he’s old. So certain things don’t excite him as much as they’re used to. Matchups like this excite him. Like he’s ready for him. He wants him. Jahmai Mashack, anytime he sees a name with a high point total next to it in his mind, for sure, he’s gonna guard him. That doesn’t matter if it Zach Edey, Terrance Shannon, doesn’t matter who it is. He wants a crack at him.
“So our guys are prepared. We’re going to get some more preparation today. They’re excited to see the matchup. They’re excited to guard Terrance. They’re excited to guard Marcus Domask. They’re excited to guard Ty Rogers, Quincy Guerrier. They’re excited to guard all ’em. So I think it’s gonna be a fun game, really competitive. I think there’s gonna be a lot of passion and energy. There’s gonna be some old dudes trying to go at each other, so it’ll be fun.”
