Tennessee basketball is back in Knoxville after a 1-1 week on the road with a loss at Florida and a win at Texas. The Vols are no longer the top-ranked team in the AP Poll as they return home to face Georgia on Wednesday night.
Vols assistant coach Lucas Campbell as well as center Felix Okpara met with the media on Tuesday morning in preparation of the game. Campbell discussed opponents sagging off Jahmai Mashack, needing to match Georgia’s physicality and more. Okpara discussed his strong week on the road, preparing for the Bulldogs and more.
Here’s everything the pair said ahead of another big week in SEC play.
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Lucas Campbell
On what Felix Okpara did well for Tennessee in the Florida and Texas games last week
“I just think ‘Fe’ is starting to get the spacing of where we need him. And he is starting to do a better job of hiding on the baseline and getting to the dunker spot when we need him to. We need him to finish at the rim because we need a paint presence. As you know, this team, we like to cut, we like to off-ball screen, so our paint presence can come from passes and come from drop-offs and stuff like that. So just got to keep finishing around the rim and then he is rebounded it really well. He let (Kadin) Shedrick get to him in the first half of that Texas game, but in the second half I thought he brought a lot of energy that we needed on the glass.”
On if Felix Okpara not finishing at the rim is a toughness or confidence issue
“I don’t know if it’s a confidence thing for him. He was great this summer and he was great going into the preseason. I think it’s just been about finding the opportunities to get rim shots. I think in the summer a lot of them came out of post-ups and stuff, and quick moves. And it hasn’t as much this year. Why? I don’t know. But just the ability to finish off the baseline and stuff and stay hidden and kind of keep good spacing, because if his man helps up, he needs to be available for a lob. Nobody can jump with him. And he draws a lot of fouls up there. So I think it’s just finding his spots.”
On Tennessee trying to work around opposing defenses that sag off of Jahmai Mashack
“Obviously people have started to do that and people play analytics. There’s certain teams that like to play analytics like that. And I think with Jahmai the moral is he’s got to be a screener and he’s got to keep moving. And he had eight points (at Texas), that was the most he’s had in what, like four games, and a game where teams were doing that to him. So he started to learn if people want to do that, then I’m going to get a lot of driving angles. And Felix did a great job ducking in and giving him an angle on a couple drives. And so I think he’s starting to learn it, but he has just got to be a great screener, offensive rebounder and keep moving and driving the ball. Because if they don’t want to respect him, it’s going to be hard to stop him from driving whenever he’s got an angle.”
On the message to Jahmai Mashack to stay aggressive
“You can’t be like a non-offensive player when you’re out there and just concede to what the defense is giving you. So we want him to play aggressive and attack and get a piece of the paint. And if that paint touch equals a shot by him, that’s great. But sometimes, I think he got Jordan (Gainey) a three in the Texas game, that’s the type of shots we need, inside-out, bang a three. Those are how he can impact the game. He can’t just be complacent and accept the fact that he’s just, ‘oh, they’re not guarding me. I’m just going to stand around.’”
On if there was a common thread in how Florida and Texas guarded Chaz Lanier
“I think they’re doing a great job downing him. Teams are starting to get up in them and they won’t let him come off of screens and we’ve already added some stuff, coach has been great about putting in stuff that will benefit us on that aspect and make it harder. I mean at the end of the game we kind of just went and used what they were doing against them, against Texas. If they want to not let him have a shot, then they can’t be in the gap once Zakai starts to drive. So you went to kind of a dribble drive and so teams have started to down him but he’ll still get his shots. He’s got to keep playing aggressive, he’s got to keep looking for them. I’m not too worried about it. He’ll get used to that physicality. It’s different non-league and then you get into league and people start to know your actions and stuff more.”
On Georgia coming off a week with two top 25 wins
“Mike White’s done a great job with this group. I mean, Silas Demary and Asa Nowell and Somo (Cyril), they bring like a different physicality and that’s like the main thing we’ve been hitting, is they’re a very physical team and so we’ve got to match that physicality. Which we obviously didn’t do against Florida and in the first half against Texas we struggled on the glass. And so we’ve gotta match their physicality and I think we’ll do the job defensively. Keeping them, making them take shots that we want. They’re like third in the nation in dunks, something like that. And so we can’t let them get any uncontested looks at the rim. We’ve just got to do our job and do our part and I think we’ll be good. And then offensively we’ll just keep doing the things we do. Keep moving the ball, passing, getting open looks. Guys stay aggressive. I mean guys have been practicing great, they’ve got a great attitude so I think we’ll be fine there.”
On Rick Barnes challenging Chaz Lanier
“I think Chaz, he’s such a humble kid and he’s such a great kid and he doesn’t want to ever look selfish. So sometimes he can think like, oh, that’s not the best shot on his time or this action. We need to get it to somebody else. Somebody’s helping. But coach wants him to know like that’s what you’re best at. Like what you do is you shoot the ball at an elite level, an NBA level. And so we want him to do that for us. And Coach is just trying to get across to him. If you pass up opportunities now, they might not come back later in the game because teams don’t want you to get a shot. So you’ve got to take the ones that are there.”
On Darlinstone Dubar balancing playing loose and within the flow of the offense
“As soon as the game ended, I just told him, I was like, ‘great game, we know you’ve got that.’ I said, ‘but you got to keep doing the other stuff. You got to keep rebounding, you got to keep playing defense because if you don’t, coach will start to get on you about that’ and you can’t think, he can’t be complacent about that. He can’t think that like he’s a talented offensive player and think that that’s gonna be the defining factor of what keeps him on the court. His offense will thrive the more he’s on the court and the more he’s on the court will be dependent on whether rebounds, plays defense, deflections, all that type of stuff. So I think he does have an offensive confidence about him that we need and a kind of a swagger, a natural swagger about him that we need. But he’s got to do all the other things or you can’t play him for long stretches.”
On if sophomore forward Cade Phillips started to look more like himself against Texas while dealing with his right shoulder injury
“Yeah, for sure. Cade is tough as nails. That’s a good thing. In the games he’s told me adrenaline takes over and he starts to just go. He missed a bunny there. I don’t know if that had to do with his shoulder or not, but he did a great job. He had a nice put-back dunk. He’s getting his chippieness back. We need that. He’s probably the most physical big we have as far as hitting people.”
On Georgia freshman center Asa Newell
“He is a really talented player and he looks really comfortable in college basketball, which is a hard adjustment to make as a freshman. Props to him. I think we need to be, hopefully start the trend of, making him struggle and giving him not a lot of opportunities. (Texas freshman guard) Tre Johnson did a great job. There was another freshman that (we had to deal with it). So we are gonna take (these) challenges of (defending) these really talented players. We gotta get Igor (Milicic Jr.), we gotta get D-Stone, we gotta get Cade, we gotta get all these guys locked in to make it hard on him. And if he makes tough opportunities, he makes tough opportunities. We wanna make that transition tough as he gets an SEC play.”
On freshman guard Bishop Boswell always having great energy and playing with great effort despite not playing a lot of minutes
“I mean that was my whole career, you know, not many minutes. A lot of watching, but Coach (Barnes) always challenged us when I was a player to have great energy, get on SportsCenter, all that. Bishop’s in a different role ’cause he’s gonna play in a lot of games. But he has a great energy. He keeps the guys really confident. I mean, I remember during the Texas game, I see him walk up to Igor, put his arm around him and tell him something, and Igor shook his head and just dapped him. So clearly he’s giving him good positive energy and positive advice about what to do. So he’s been great though. He’s really handled it well and I think he’s starting to learn.”
On if he feels like senior guard Jordan Gainey started to come out of his mini-slump towards the end of the Texas game
“Yeah, for sure. Jordan, he takes the right shots, so I never really worry about that. He always takes the right shots. He’s starting to see it and he’s only gotten (in) better shape physically, so he’ll be fine and it’s good to see him hit that corner three. It was a huge one and you just can’t hesitate on ones like those. And so it’s good to see him, whether he made it or missed it, he shot it.”
On how the transition from walk-on to assistant coach over the course of Barnes’ tenure has gone
“Yeah, it’s good. From playing for Coach, to coaching with him, it’s been a blessing. He’s done right by me and my family. He’s been amazing. It is funny that the things that I used to be like as a player, I used to think like, why does he get mad about that? You start to get irritated about, and you kind of feel a little bit hypocritical from what you used to think. Like passing for example. Coach used to hate, used to really get on about, you know, passing and hitting guys in the numbers or hitting ’em in the face. And I used to be like, ‘why is that that big a deal?’ Now it happens at practice, I get so frustrated. So I kind of get it. But it’s a great transition.”
Felix Okpara
On what’s been working well for him the last few games
“For me, I just feel like I’ve been playing hard. I really want to win. So I know every night my teammates, my team needs something from me. I’m just playing hard trying to get rebounds, blocks.”
On the important of him playing with good spacing
“It is very, very, very important for me because of my play style. So I think that also played a big role because I feel like I watch a lot of film with coach, and it’s like, if my man go help, that’s when I get the easy lobs or the easy dump downs. So I think that too is a big factor.”
On how the win at Texas can be a boost for the team
“It’s very, very big. It is hard to win on the road. We all know that, SEC. so I think for us, it’s just, we just take that as a great road win. And also, we have some stuff you can clean up. I feel like we had a lot of turnovers that we need to clean up, we’re not supposed to have. So that’s what we’re trying to clean up before the Georgia game. And also just executed half court last minutes (at Texas).”
On what it was like seeing Darlinstone Dubar play well, with emotion at Georgia
“It is, I say this a lot. Me and Dstone are really close. I told him, we gonna need him as a team. We see him doing it during practice. At this point in the game, he showed it in the Illinois game. Showed it again this game. So I know he’s definitely gonna be ready for the game tomorrow.”
On Georgia star freshman Asa Newell
“I just feel he’s very versatile, so he can play in and out. So I think it’s going to be a good matchup for me because I usually stay more in the paint trying to alter shots and block shots. So for me to go out and also guard him, I think it’s gonna be a really good matchup.”
On how much is going to be on his shoulders against a Georgia offense that likes to score in the paint
“I just, it’s going to be a great opportunity to show, and also, I’m just going to try to stay out of foul trouble the most I can. I’m just going to try and contest every shot. I just think it’s going to be a good opportunity for us. Not just for me, because Coach (Barnes) can put in guys like Shack (Jahmai Mashack), can put in Stone (Darlinstone Dubar), Igor sometimes with the five.”
On how much of a point of pride is it to be the more physical team in these types of matchups
“I feel like after the Florida game, we had to pick it up. I think we (are) going to be ready for that physicality. Hopefully we will do well.”
On what he’s focused on individually following strong outings at Florida and Texas last week
“Just being a little bit more consistent, and being a guy that Zakai or any of the guards can look at to get easy buckets. Because I feel like I can be that guy to take pressure away from all the players on the court. I think that’s the next step for me.”
On if feels like he’s sharpened his tools more mentally or physically
“I would say both. Sports definitely (has) a mental aspect to it. Just knowing I can do it, just having that confidence. I think that’s really helped me. And also just coming in late at night and putting in the work.”
