Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinsky met with the media on Monday morning before the Vols leave for Gainesville and a top 10 showdown against Florida.
The Vols are the nation’s last remaining unbeaten team but will face their hardest test of the season at Florida.
Ahead of the matchup, Polinsky discussed Igor Milicic rebounding, what makes Florida so good and much more. Here’s everything Polinsky said.
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On using football clips in Tennessee’s film sessions to emphasize rebounding
“Just, I think things can get at times, it’s a long season, a little bit monotonous, mundane. So what can we do to have a little flavor and give a perspective? And I know our guys, a lot of them will watch NFL or college football for sure, love the Vols of course. So everybody, Rod (Clark) will do it, (Justin) Gainey, (Bryan) Lentz. It was just something, I was sitting there, and Luke Schapker, I was like, you know what, we got to be better at like getting off the first hit, the first block out. And so Shap goes, ‘I got a great clip.’ So Luke Schapker actually came up with the running back. I think he ran through five tackles. So it was a way for our guys to relate in a different way and something that they found kind of, I think, amusing, but could also maybe translate to basketball.”
On if Igor Milicic took it to heart before getting 18 rebounds against Arkansas
“I’ll leave that up to you.”
On Igor Milicic grabbing 18 rebounds as a stretch forward
“Yeah, I think when you see guys rebound out of their area, meaning starting in one place, running to another place or being at the rim, a ball bounce is seven feet this way, he runs it down. That I think what was impressive to me with Igor in that game, we get it from Cade (Phillips), we’ll get some from Felix (Okpara) for sure. We want to get D-Stone (Darlinstone Dubar) — he’s capable — more involved. But that was I think the most impressive thing. Not just grabbing balls in his area. There’s some good in-area rebounders but out-of-area rebounders are hard to find.”
On why Igor Milicic has been such an effective offensive rebounder at Tennessee
“He and I talked and Charlotte was very successful when he was there. Virginia, I think, the (Charlotte) coach came from there. And everybody has a style and Virginia’s was highly successful, right, under Tony Bennett. But Igor told me the way they did it, if they were even or they were inside the guy, they could go to the board. If not, they were to go back. Because their whole thing is prevent easy transition baskets, get our half-court defense set. So they valued that probably a little bit more than offensive rebounding. We’d like to think we can do both of them. And I think giving Igor that freedom, because he had told me in the summer, ‘man, I can offensive rebound’ and I said, ‘well, let’s go. You’re going to get that opportunity.’ So I think that’s been kind of fun for him and it’s obviously been good for our basketball team.”
On the key to Florida’s success so far this season
“Wow, they’re really good. I know we’re supposed to say all that but they really, really are good. No holds. To answer your question directly, I think experience at the guard position, I don’t know that we’ll see a better trio and then when you add their bench, Aberdeen coming in off the bench and who’s playing, you know? And the other thing is, I think like our guys, which we’re proud of here, all their kids have gotten better, or young men I should say. They look like men. So the fact that Alijah Martin is a grad and then they have two other seniors, (Walter) Clayton and (Will) Richard at guard. So they’ve seen it all. They’re experienced, they’re physically strong, they’re mentally tough, they’re athletic, they’re willful in their scoring opportunities. Their bigs understand exactly their role. I think— so look at it this way. They’re third or fourth in the country in offensive rebound rate. Rank highly in second chance points. They are second or third in the country in transition points. That’s a scary combination. That is why they’re so good, right? They do run good half court stuff, but man you put those two things together, hard to beat that team.”
On winning a slugfest at Illinois, potentially needing to win a track meet at Florida
“Well we’re gonna find out because that’s a good point. I mean this team, stylistically Florida has shown that they can win. I mean that was a high level game if you watched it (Florida at Kentucky). That was entertaining. Both teams were just so good on offense in that game. Florida also ranks analytically pretty well defensively. So I think Kentucky’s offense might have just been a little better than Florida’s defense on that night, or that day I should say. But Florida, we expect them to be very good defensively. We are gonna have to score some points to win in Florida.”
On how Tennessee can improve its rebounding
“Being consistent. We’ll get the chance to see that in this game because this will be — everybody talks about our physicality — I think Florida is probably the most physical team I’ve seen all year, at all five positions, and they get just as physical when they come in off the bench. So, playing in that environment there, you know the love Florida has anyway for Tennessee and yeah, we know it’s sold out and we know this is a huge game for them as it is for us. That we expect this to be like a 15-round boxing match.”
On where he has seen Florida guard Walter Clayton improve from last year to this year
“Just confidence. Just pace and a poise. I call it like, he plays with a great gait. You know, he just, he never looks hurried. He never gets sped up. He’s shooting the ball at a very high clip from three. He needs little time, a little bit like Chaz (Lanier), like that release is really quick. Big body, strong enough to get downhill. Really smart at drawing files. Just very complete as an offensive player.”
On where Chaz Lanier’s shooting ability compares to other guys he’s been around
“Well thus far it’s been at a very high level, on any level. I think the things that, if I could go back to my previous stop of 23 years (NBA), I would say, we used to talk about don’t grade guys on a college 20, how many of them in that 20 were NBA good? Would they work at any place in the world? And I think Chaz has the ability for his jump shot to work anywhere in the world. I think Clayton, his jump shot works anywhere in the world. That’s not to knock on any of our other guys. When you watch Dalton (Knecht) play, you could tell some of the shots would work at the next level. I think what Chaz does at times, and coach (Barnes) is trying to get him even to play faster, get more separation because that’s what’s important, right? You can talk about a low release, but when you get rid of it that quick, it doesn’t matter. And I think that’s what’s impressive, his ability to get rid of the ball quickly with range and in traffic.”
