Tennessee and Alabama were tied exiting a timeout with just over four minutes to play on Saturday afternoon. The Vols were fully healthy and had their winning-time lineup on the court. Rick Barnes drew up a play for senior guard Jordan Gainey. He got downhill and drew a foul before making both free throws to give Tennessee its first lead since the 3:28 mark in the first half.
The play call and Gainey’s execution say wanders about how much the former USC Upstate transfer guard has improved from his first to second season at Tennessee.
“We came out when we needed a basket. I mean honestly we went to him,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said postgame. He was our first option when we came out, we got him going downhill and he got fouled and got it high off the glass. … I think that probably tells you how we feel about him.”
Tennessee went to Gainey down the stretch but they needed him from the jump. Zakai Zeigler picked up two fouls and subsequently spent the next 10 minutes on the bench.
Down its starting point guard and best offensive creator, Gainey stepped up. He hit a pair of midrange jumpers, scored at the foul line and most importantly took care of the basketball. By the time Zeigler checked back in at the under eight timeout, Tennessee was still leading by a point.
Alabama’s failure to take advantage of Zeigler being on the bench was something that Nate Oats noted postgame.
“He’s (Zeigler) on the bench, he’s the only guy that really creates a lot of offense for them,” Oats said. “You got to give (Jordan) Gainey a lot of credit tonight. I mean, Gainey stepped up in Zeigler’s absence if you will. … Give Gainey a bunch of credit.”
The 6-foot-3 guard had one of the game’s biggest buckets as the first half expired, taking it coast-to-coast for an and-one. That play cut Alabama’s lead to four points after the Crimson Tide ended the first half on a run.
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Gainey kept delivering for Tennessee in the second half. He scored nine points in a 4:14 stretch in the where the Vols turned a six-point deficit into a two-point lead.
“I thought Jordan, through a part of the game where we really needed him made some really big plays,” Barnes said. “He did. And he came up huge today. He really did. … At maybe the most critical time he was at his best today.”
The senior guard was fantastic all evening, scoring 18 points on six-of-13 shooting from the field without turning the ball over in 29 minutes of action.
“Boy, he’s cold. He’s cold,” Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack said yesterday. “He doesn’t get the credit as a scorer as he should get. … He’s a three-level scorer. He can score at the three, score at the midrange and can get to the rim. He can draw fouls. He’s just one of those players that’s hard to game plan for.”
Gainey is a true three-level scorer and there’s a great irony in him making five midrange jump shots against a defense that wants to force as many midrange jumpers as possible. But what’s arguably most impressive about Gainey’s performance is that he created that much offense without making a three-pointer.
A season ago, when Gainey was largely just a spot-up shooter, it would have been difficult to believe he scored 18 points in a big game without making a three-pointer. But it wasn’t shocking on Saturday. Just highly significant for a veteran playing high-level basketball for Tennessee.
