Tennessee basketball used a big second half to coast past Georgia 74-56 on Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
The Vols trailed by two points at halftime before using a 25-4 run to open the second half that saw them not only take control of the game but to deliver the knockout blow.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes discussed Zakai Zeigler’s big night, Chaz Lanier struggling again and much more. Here’s everything Barnes said.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways As A Dominant Second Half Propels Tennessee Past Georgia
Opening statement
“Just a lot of respect for Mike White. Ten years in the league with him, respect him as much as any coach I’ve coached against. His teams are hard nosed, play. Game started, I thought both teams were really physical, trying to guard, trying to not give up anything easy. And both teams missed shots that both have made at some point in time, but that’s part of it. And when it is games like that in the first half, I think it’s a difficult game officiate, too. But I thought everyone was trying to get it done. Halftime, we really obviously want to continue to keep trying to guard and we try to adjust some things spacing wise. But we start making some shots, ‘Z’ (Zakai Zeigler) gets it going. I thought Jahmai (Mashack) was terrific tonight. Cade (Phillips), terrific. Igor continues show some consistency. And I think it’s three really good games where Felix (Okpara) has made an impact, especially defensively.
“And Chaz (Lanier) had a tough night shooting it. Some of that has to do with (Georgia), too. Any time you’re struggling, sometimes you got to realize the opponents have something to do with that. But, ‘Z’ got it going there. And then we had to lead and Mike call a great time out. We came out and took I thought two, three straight shots that you don’t want to do in that situation. But defensively in the second half, the deflections allowed us to get out and get some layups, turnovers and (converting) those were a big part of the game.”
On what Zakai Zeigler did to spark Tennessee in the second half
“His steal in the back court, all that, all little things, just really truly being Zakai. Trying to find a way to impact the game, whether it’s 94 feet away. His six steals were huge. That’s huge. Just really being who he is. He tries to disrupt play, obviously, and a lot of respect. They run really, really good offense. Not easy. We knew with their size they would try to take advantage of that as well. But the turnovers that we were able to get, we turn them into 19 (points). That was big for us, obviously, because we were certainly struggling in the half-court.”
On what Tennessee got from Jordan Gainey in the second half
“Jordan has shown us, you guys have watched him, he can score at all three levels. Not afraid to try to get downhill and go challenge someone at the rim. And his midrange game has always been good. If you’ve watched him play, he’s always been good there. From shooting it, it’s just his improvement. I think that these guys have a bond about them. They believe in what they’re doing together. And they pull through each other. And the crowd came to life there, too, and that was nice. But, I mean, (Georgia is a) Top 25 team and you just know going into every game you’re going to have to scratch and claw all the way through it because they wouldn’t be where they are if they weren’t well coached and had talent. But I thought our guys stayed with it on a night when, again, we just couldn’t get it to go in the basket. Early in the game we were getting some offensive rebounds and had a chance close to the rim and didn’t finish some of those, which we like to, but they’re tougher than you think in there. But ‘Z’, his confidence level, his competitive spirit, it definitely rubs off on his teammates. It really does.”
On if he worries about Chaz Lanier thinking too much about his shooting slump, how he can get out of it
“Everyone goes through it. Dalton had some nights last year. And I shouldn’t even bring (Knecht) up because everybody wants to make that comparison. And you can’t compare players. The best of the best, I’ve seen them go through some period where they struggle to shoot. It’s not the easiest thing in the world. But really, I don’t worry about Chaz, because he’ll it. And he’s making improvement. Like tonight, he’s going to have to make some tough shots obviously, but I actually thought he did a pretty good job. Maybe as good as he’s done all year (at) getting himself set up quicker. Normally coming off screens, being a little lackadaisical, letting guys catch back up with him when he gets that separation. I think he’s learning this level, you know, it’s a different level for him and getting guarded differently. But you guys have watched him. He had some looks tonight that obviously we’d love to see go in for him but to be able to win the game like we did without him having a big night was good.”
On Jahmai Mashack making adjustments to his jumpshot
“After the game at Texas, I got a text from one of our GAs, he was in early the next morning really working. He, again, it is hard when people decide not to guard you, but he’s learned. He’s done it every year. He’s learned how to adjust, give him credit for it. But defensively tonight, he was spectacular. He was really good. Which he normally is but I thought he picked his spots well and drove it. Obviously his 15-foot jump game was there, but early I thought his drive early in the game was a big one because again, I’m sure you look at it, they were probably a little bit of cushion. He took the slack out and went in there and probably made a pretty good physical play around the rim, made a little jump hook there. Shot that we need, I don’t care who gives it to us, we need more baskets in there like that if not to score (to) nothing else to try to get fouled.”
On if it’s sustainable long term to win games with the level of production they’re getting from Chaz
“Well we feel like if he’s not going to give us something, like Dstone stepped up the other night. We think somebody will. We think we’ve got enough guys that can do that for us. We really do. I thought he shot a couple tonight and he should have waited for some of the things that we were trying to do. He doesn’t get the look he wants, we want him to play out of triple threat in ta ball screen because we think he could be good at it. But we’ve also talked about shot ready when he comes off screens again, you guys have seen him get it going. And again, I’ve seen the best of the best struggle, but the only way he’s going to get himself out of is, is to stay involved in the game and take the shots that he practices. I mean I don’t care, and I told all of our guys that, if they get open and they have shots at the pace shots, game spots, game speed— we expect them to take it. Now, where it gets a little bit difficult is when guys are giving you those shots and they’re not going in. So that’s when you have to be able to know when to shoot them and when not to.”
On Igor Milicic getting out of area rebounds
“Effort, just strictly effort. He’s always been a really good defensive rebounder and we knew that coming in and that’s something that we think it doesn’t matter what level, if you’re a good high school rebounder, usually you’re going to be a good college rebounder as you keep going up. He had proven he was a really good defensive rebounder and sometimes you might play in a system where it’s not emphasized as much. This league is a rebounding league. You look around our league, but he’s worked really hard and it is not easy because I know that people are getting ready for games saying you got to block him out, you got to do this, you got to do that. So it’s like a running back in football, you get hit. What can you do after contact? Especially on the offensive end. He’s just continuing to make the effort to do it.”
On Zakai Zeigler breaking the program career steals record
“The guy’s been an incredible blessing for me personally. I remember, I saw him play one time in high school the last week of the summer and I’m sure his story is well documented, but what— someone asked me, Bob (Kesling) asked me about it. What he does, you guys that come to practice see it— he does it every day. It’s just who he is. It’s in his DNA and it’s really a blessing as a coach to have a guy like that. Sometimes he gets so competitive and he’s so hard on himself, but I’ll tell you what, I don’t know what I do without him. I mean, he’s my comfort blanket. He really is. At the end of the game, I’m glad we were able to finish without because this might be the least minutes he’s played in a long time. What did he play? (31 minutes). I’ve always believed a point guard is like a quarterback. You gotta let him get a feel while they’re out there, and very few guys can do what he does, the way he impacts the game on both ends, his defense and how hard he is. But it’s a blessing to have had him with us. It’s fitting that he’s done what he’s done when you think about his steals, you think about all those types of things and what he’s done. I mean, he has been, really and truly, one of the great Volunteers. I’m telling you. I mean, it’s just amazing what he does and the way he goes about it every single day.”
On if he’s surprised by what they’ve received from sophomore forward Cade Phillips while he’s dealt with a shoulder injury, if there were discussions to let him sit and rest it:
“Well, when you’re down to nine scholarship players and actually when Cade got hurt, Bishop (Boswell) wasn’t really ready to go either because of his shoulder.. You know, you listen to your players and there was no way he wasn’t gonna play. And again, it goes back to DNA. Cade’s a farm strong, country strong, highly competitive, comes from a very highly competitive family that’s got a pretty good pedigree obviously.
“I asked him one day, I said, ‘how’s your shoulder?” He said, ‘it doesn’t matter, I’m playing.’ And he was visibly (hurt) — you could see it. I mean, he didn’t want to pick it (shoulder) up. I watched him in practice, obviously trying to protect him there and you could tell he was trying to do things with one hand. Jahmai went through it with his hand, the same thing. I mean those things are right there. And Shack was the same way. There wasn’t anything you were going to do to keep him off the court. Cade, samy way. Just, we told him, remember he missed his senior year in high school with a shoulder problem. Different, you know, he felt it pop out during the game over there, right on the other side of the court away from the bench when it happened, which is never comfortable.
“You know what, I don’t worry about much of it anyways. We’re gonna go with whatever we got, but I wasn’t the least bit surprised and I knew he was in pain, but when he said, ‘it doesn’t matter, I’m playing,’ I honestly would have probably wondered if he didn’t because that’s who he is.”
On if what Felix Okpara has given them defensively the last couple of games is what he expected coming into the season
“Yeah, he really has been good. He’s gotten so much better up on the ball screens, protecting around the rim and you know what, he’s gonna continue to improve offensively if we can just continue to get his space where he needs to get it. But again, our guards believe in him. You know, they think that if they can stay in front of the ball, if they get beat, they know he’s back there. Cade is the same way. Cade has become a really good shot blocker as well. Cade is really good with his verticality, really good at it. And Felix is otherwise going to go up and try to get it. It’s a weapon. It really is.”
On what gives him more confidence that Okpara can give them more offensively in the paint or on the block
“Just the fact that I don’t think he’s ever been asked to do it, and he’s a junior. Sometimes as coaches you don’t want to put somebody in a box so quick. You want to say, okay, if we can get something done here. If he could get us, you know, two, three of those little jump-hooks around the rim, because otherwise people are just gonna hug up to the perimeter guys on the perimeter and almost kind of dare you to throw it in there. We wanna get the lobs. Obviously we wanna try to get behind the defense. That comes with a lot of things. You know, the guy on the ball has got to be guarded, the way they guard Chaz they might not leave him, so that’s going to open up a little bit better driving lane for the guard if he comes off that side. Shack can be in the gap a little bit more. But we’ve got to screen better. Especially when they’re in a drop coverage. Whenever they’re in a drop coverage, it’s up to the guard to get downhill with that post defender and it’s up to Felix to get behind him some way. If not, you gotta create a little angle where we can maybe get what we call a highway screen in there. But it’s hard because we’re playing against really good competition, well-coached teams and so the timing has to be there, but we’re just gonna keep working at it. As long as he continues to work hard, we’re going to do everything we can to continue to get him better.”
