Tennessee basketball associate head coach Justin Gainey met with the local media over Zoom on a snowy Knoxville Monday.
The Vols are coming off a 1-1 week on the road and face Florida and Alabama this week at Thompson-Boling Areana at Food City Center.
Gainey discussed the high intensity week on the road, Florida’s attacking offense and much more. Here’s everything Gainey said on Monday.
More From RTI: Tipoff Time And Broadcast Details Set For Tennessee-Alabama
On the ups and downs for Tennessee in the two road games at Mississippi State and Georgia
“I thought our team showed resiliency. I thought they showed fight. Thought they showed toughness. As always on the road in this league, it’s tough. And if you look around the country, it’s really tough to go on the road in conference play and get a win. So we’re just proud of our guys that they showed resilience. They showed toughness and stuck together and nobody ever stopped believing. And so we just kept fighting and we just found a way to get it done.
“And so we’ll learn from every experience. And we’ve watched the film on it and we know where we could have been better in certain situations. And some good things we did through it. So it’s all a learning experience. But it was great to be able to put it together down there in Athens and, and, and, and, and, and come out with a win.”
On what has led to Tennessee redshirt freshman guard Freddie Dilione V playing a bigger role in recent games
“Freddie has been practicing well. And I think for the first time in a long time, he’s healthy. And that that was the big thing prior, him not being healthy and not being able to practice and practice well. He’s much improved. He’s feeling a lot better. And (I) thought he did well in his minutes.”
On what Dalton Knecht has been able to do since SEC play started
“Dalton’s an extremely talented offensive player and hadn’t been around a lot of guys like him at that size. And I think, again, he’s continuing to settle in and find his spots and pick his spots. And just really did a great job down in Athens of taking that game over. And his teammates did a great job of getting him the ball and spacing the floor for him to be able to be able to operate. He’s extremely talented and, you know, glad he is on our side.”
On how important the development of Freddie Dilione V is for Zakai Zeigler to help him avoid having to play 35 minutes or more a game
“Yeah, it’d be huge. It’d be huge because it will allow us to keep ‘Z’ a little fresher and kind of limit his minutes a little bit. And so adding that, another guard to that rotation, would be huge for us.”
On giving the ball to Dalton Knecht in end of game scenarios
“He’s been great in those situations, obviously we don’t want it to ever have to get to that point. But it’s great to have an option like that, like Dalton, that when things kind of may slow down or you need a basket to have a weapon like that that you can go to and feel comfortable and confident going to.”
On the irony of going to Knecht in those situations with how well point guard Zakai Zeigler has been playing
“It’s great. It’s great to have multiple options because it becomes even tougher to scheme and to prepare for it. So the more options, the better. And with Dalton he’s so versatile. You can put hm pretty much anywhere. You can post him. You can run him off cuts off screens, and then you can put the ball in his hands. So he is a high level scorer.”
On preparing for a Florida team that attacks the basket after playing a heavy three-point shooting team
“I mean it’ll be different for sure. They want to get downhill, they want to get to the basket, they want to get to the free throw line. And so we just got to be ready to make that adjustment and all through preseason and non-conference games, we faced different types of opponents that, you attacked in different ways. So I think we’ll be prepared we’ll have our guys’ mindset ready on that. But I don’t want to take away from their ability to shoot the three, you know, they’re just a kind of a lower volume three-point shooting team, but they have guys that can knock them down all over the court and even (Tyrese) Samuel’s shown he can make them too. So it won’t be a situation where it’s like completely packed in and not respecting their three-point shot at all, because those guys can, (Will) Richard, I mean, those guys can shoot.”
On the mindset entering the Florida game, facing Walter Clayton and Zyon Pullin
“Both of those guys are really good and (Riley) Kugel is good. (Tyrese) Samuel was good. I mean they got a really good team, but it is, their guard play is as strong as there is in the league. So it’s going to take a team effort. Not one guy will be able to do the job because they’re so aggressive. They are so talented and the offense is designed for them to attack certain areas so it won’t just be the guy on the ball. It’ll be everybody around playing, being where they’re supposed to be. And that guy guarding the ball having confidence that, ‘Hey man, I got some help behind me. I got to do my job. But you know, if something does happen, I do have built in help that can help slow these guys down.’ But it’s definitely going to be a handful. Those guys are, they’re tough.”
On Jonas Aidoo bouncing back against Georgia from his performance at Mississippi State:
“(Rick Barnes) was really impressed, was really proud of Jonas and his effort in that game and just the way he dominated the paint from a rebounding standpoint, from a rim protection standpoint was great to see. Just like all our guys, they’re resilient. They’re tough, next play mentality. So the previous game might not have been to the level that he wanted or anything, but the way he responded, the way he bounced back, we were proud of him. That’s what we expect of all our guys.”
On how he approaches being a dad and a coach for Jordan Gainey when he’s dealing with shooting struggles
“I’ve always been a coach, right? Since he’s been born. And so coach and dad is kind of the same in the sense of, ‘Hey, get in the gym, just keep shooting, man. Stay confident.’ It’s like I would tell anybody, any of our players when they go through maybe some shooting lulls or maybe not played the best game. I’m always more of an upbeat, confident guy versus trying to crush you. That’s just kind of my nature.
“So yeah, just stay confident, stay upbeat, next one’s going in, keep shooting. And they will, because he puts in the work and he’s a confident guy, confident shooter, so I know his confidence won’t ever get deflated. It’s easy. It’s easier for me ’cause you know, again, I’ve been dad and I’ve been coach his entire life. Nothing really changes from that standpoint.”
