Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht, forward Jonas Aidoo, and guard Jahmai Mashack met with the media on the big stage on Thursday afternoon ahead of their Sweet 16 matchup against 3-seed Creighton on Friday night in Detroit.
The Vols and the Blue Jays are set to square off at 10:09 p.m. ET from Little Caesars Arena.
With a big win over Saint Peter’s in the first round and a nail-biting win over Texas in the second round, the Vols are locked and loaded for another shot at the Sweet 16. This is the second consecutive second-weekend berth for the Vols, with Tennessee falling to FAU in New York City during the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee’s trio of players spoke about the mindsets heading into the game on Friday, with Mashack diving into the confidence level that the Vols are at with Creighton on the horizon. Knecht spoke about his journey as a transfer portal player while Aidoo touched on the necessary points to hammer home when preparing to take on a 7-foot-1 starting center as the Blue Jays have.
All three players talked about what stands out to them when preparing for Creighton.
“We know they’re a really good offensive team and they like to get up a lot of threes,” Aidoo said. “We like to take pride in being the best defensive team in the nation and locking in on that scouting report.”
“Like Jonas said, they’re a great offensive team,” Knecht added. “Also, they make sure they don’t foul and get teams to the foul line. That will definitely be something we’ll need to watch out for.”
“I think they both made really great points,” Mashack closed the question by saying. “Definitely a high offensive team that wants to get a lot of threes, wants to get out and run. Like DK said, they don’t want to foul. They want to stay back. They don’t want to force a lot of turnovers. They just want to force you into a short shot clock.
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More from RTI: Creighton Basketball Previews Sweet 16 Round Against Tennessee
Check out the interviews from Thursday in Detroit below:
Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht, Jonas Aidoo, Jahmai Mashack
