MTSU basketball gave Tennessee everything it wanted for the better part of 30 minutes on Monday night in Knoxville. But the Vols used elite defense to pull ahead late and earn an 82-64 win in Knoxville.
Following the game, MTSU head coach Nate McDevitt discussed the difference in offense in the two halves, Tennessee’s Jahmai Mashack and more. Here’s everything McDevitt said.
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Opening Statement
“Congratulations to Coach Barnes and his group. They’re the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. They’re tough, they put a lot of pressure on you on both ends. I was really proud of our team. I thought we were just kind of blow for blow for about 35 minutes. And I thought we were a little tired, gassed, at the end.
“Jlynn Counter went out, cramping, so Cam (Camryn Weston) had to play a long stretch and needed to come out. And then all of a sudden you’re out there with neither of your point guards. So that put a lot of strain on us offensively. That’s hard to withstand when you’re playing against a defensive team like Tennessee.
“There were a couple of breaks that just needed to go our way that didn’t. We didn’t help ourselves at the free-throw line. But they’re just so physical on both sides of the ball. They run tough, physical offense. They seem hardly ever out of position on defense. So they challenge you. But again, really proud of our team and what we did here tonight.”
On the adjustments he thought Tennessee would make in the second half
“That they would be physical and try to get to the rim on the offensive end. One of the things that was working for them in the first half was being able to throw lobs to their bigs. We thought they would get more aggressive with some of our switching on defense and try to take advantage of size and strength with their forwards. We anticipated a lot of pin down curls to get the ball in the paint, because as soon as you don’t help, you got two great scores in (Chaz) Lanier and (Jordan) Gainey that are playing in the paint. When you over help, they throw lobs to the big athletes. And we just thought they would put more pressure on the rim and they did.”
On what MTSU did well in the first half
“The good thing is we’ve got a veteran club. We’ve got nine guys, I think it is, that are 22 and older. So you you need that in an environment like that. They make a run. They’re really good. It’s loud. You want a veteran ball club that can handle that. Yeah. I think you don’t have to play perfect, but a lot of things got to go your way, and it just didn’t.”
On where they felt like they could attack Tennessee
“We wanted to play fast to get out in transition because when they’re back and set with their set half court defense, it’s hard to get them out of position. So we wanted to take advantage of our speed and pace in transition. In the first half, we were eight for 12 on transition field goals as we chart them. I don’t know what it ended up for the game. We wanted to get on the offensive glass. We thought that that was an area that we could take advantage of if there’s kind of a crack in the armor that may be it, we felt like. We came in as one of the better, you know, top 20%, top 25% offensive rebounding teams in the country and wanted to try to take advantage of that.”
On the first half offensive success
“We talked about just not holding the ball, and I thought we did a good job of that. To his point, it’s don’t catch it and hold it.”
On Jahmai Mashack having a big impact on the game while taking one show
“Energy guy. Your glue guy. He’s a really, really good defensive player. He seems to kind of have the pulse of the team. He and Zeigler are just undersized really for their position at this level, but not in how hard they play. I mean, they don’t seem to get tired. They get a lot of deflections. They’re able to switch and guard bigger players. Two really tough young men there, but Mashack squeezes everything out of himself to help that ball club.”
On if they got enough out of the non conference slate to be ready for CUSA
“Yeah. We were able to play in an MTE to where we’re on a neutral floor. Played tough away games. Able to win some home games. So, yeah, you got some good answers. I think we’re a tough group. I think we’re a resilient group, and that’s what you want to see. Both teams. Ourselves as well as Tennessee, it’s got a long three months ahead of you. And physically, we mentally weak, emotionally weak guys, you don’t have a chance. Our league is really good right now. I think KenPom has us ninth. The A10 is eight. The American is 10. So we’re right in between. Obviously, the SEC is gonna be a grind. So you want see what you got. I told our guys, like, now you see what playing a top team in the country is gonna look like if you get to the NCAA tournament. If you want to advance, we now know what the adjustments and how good we got to play to win that first round game.”
