Tennessee basketball assistant coach Rod Clark as well players Jordan Gainey and Felix Okpara met with the media in Knoxville on Tuesday morning before the team left for Lexington and the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
The Vols discussed what stands out about first round opponent Wofford, where they executed and struggled in the SEC Tournament and much more. Here’s everything the trio said.
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Rod Clark
On what stands out about Wofford
“Obviously we played them last year, the game before we went to Maui. And we were up five at half. And I just remember them slowing the game down, being really physical, screening, cutting really hard, played with a lot of force. In transition, tried to get out and get some scores and didn’t want to play against our set defense. And when they did play against our set defense, they did a good job of trying to pick us apart in some spots. And really, honestly, they helped expose some things defensively for us early in the year, helped us get better. But it was not an easy game by any means. And we were able to stretch it out at the end, but I just remember after that game, we definitely felt like we were tested at a high level. So immediately when we got that name popped up, obviously as coaches you kind of snap and get into that moment where, okay, now it’s time to prepare. It was not an ‘oh, man, we got a cupcake game.’ No, not at all. Like we’re taking Wofford extremely serious. We know they’re a good team and obviously they came in here and competed against us with some of the same guys they have on this team”
On how similar this Wofford team is to last season’s
“Well, the best player is the same guy. The big fella that is really skilled, No. 14 is really skilled. Can really pass it. Doesn’t shoot it great, but he’s a good player. They still have some of the same personnel. They still play some of the same concepts. So we know they’re still going to be a really good team. And obviously, I mean anybody who makes the (NCAA) Tournament right now is a good team or really hot. And they’re coming off a winning streak and winning their league title.”
On scouting and preparing for three possible teams over the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament
“We do a good job breaking it up like we do in the regular season. Right now, Coach (Gregg) Polinksy and me are scouting the next game. Coach Gainey is scouting the game we’re preparing for. So we’re kind of breaking it up, dividing it up and kind of seeing which teams do this, and making sure that we’re ready, you know, in case we win that first game, move on to the next and we’re ready to go, just like we do in conference tournament or regular season, to kind of keep guys on par for that.”
On if it’s surprising to see a Southern Conference team be No. 15 seed
“When I was a mid-major coach, we never made a tournament, so I don’t know exactly how it all works when it comes to the mid-major teams. That’s a league that’s obviously very well respected. I’ve always respected that league from afar. I’ve always thought it was a really good mid-major league. Seeing them as a 15, I wasn’t surprised to see, like a Horizon League team as a 15. Or I wasn’t surprised to see McNee State out of the Southland be, I think they were a 12, right? That’s kind of crazy, because I coached in the Southland a little bit and, no offense, no disrespect, but yeah, that didn’t seem like a 12-seed type league to me, but they’ve had a great year. But I think when it comes to the SoCon, it’s a respected League. Wofford obviously played really well. I watched them a lot because I had a friend at Chattanooga this year. So we know they’re competitive. And I guess it does guys a disservice, of them being the 15. But, either way, we’re going to be really prepared for it.”
On trying to get Igor Milicic Jr back on track
“I think that the number one point of emphasis for Igor right now is we got to get him back to rebounding the ball the way he did early in the year. Because that’s the biggest thing that we need right now. We need, in the tournament, defensive rebounding can take you a long way. It just does. You need force and physicality down low. You need guys that are willing to do the dirty work. And we’ve had guys that are willing to do that all year. He’s just going through a rut right now where he hasn’t played well, if we’re being honest, and he’s probably as hard on himself as anybody right now, but it just kind of motivated him, supporting him, but also understanding the like, it’s go time now. There’s no turning back. At the end of the day, he loses one more game than his college career is over, just as much as a lot of those guys we have in the locker room. So just making sure that he continues to lock in on the attention to detail and do the things that have made him successful all year, this year.”’
On Wofford being good at post entries
“Yeah, you could tell that they work on it a lot. They also flash their big up and try to play through them out top. He’s a good passer. He could DHO (dribble handoff) and really pick guys apart with his facilitating. You can tell that they work on it a ton, getting the ball inside and getting it to him. And he plays with a lot of force and physicality down there. So I think that they’ve had him for some years. Those guys are used to him. They know he’s productive. And at the end of the day, guards learn to throw the ball to bigs that make them look good all the time. That’s just what it is. It’s not hard for Zakai to throw a lob of Felix, because the likelihood of him finishing it is probably high. So I love our guys, but we’re not going to act like they’re just the sweetest little angels in the world. Zakai Zeigler passes the ball because he knows he’s going to get an assist. Not to say he’s selfish, but it’s a part of the game where you have to be selfish when it comes to things like that. So I think that they do a good job of getting big fella the ball and getting them in spots where he said he can be effective, and he does a good job of finishing plays for him.”
On Tennessee having success offensively without shooting well from the perimeter as of late
“It’s honestly extremely inspiring, considering the fact that we know our guys are going to make shots. We got some of the best shooters in the country. Honestly, we got guys that can really get on a roll. They can really make a lot of shots. Good to see Zakai having the ball go in. You know, Chaz is going to get his percentages up a little bit. Even he has some peaks and valleys when it came to it. Jordan as well. But I think that the thing that we’ve, you know, I’ve always said this year. Coach always said it this year. We said it about other teams this year. Me and Coach Gainey talk about it all the time. When you have multiple guys on your team that can all go for 25-plus on any given night, it makes you really hard to stop offensively, because you never know whose night is going to be. When we were preparing for Texas the other day, that was the number one thing we kept saying, it’s like they got multiple guys that can give you 25-30 plus every night, right? We’ve kind of shown that we were able to have guys with that type of pop as well. So it makes us dangerous, and it probably makes us really tough to prepare for, because you don’t know which guys is gonna get going. But we wanted to go up those guys and continue to play with confidence, especially going into March, and continue to play with that swagger that they have when it comes to the offensive end.”
On if Jordan Gainey is bringing the mid-range jumper back to basketball
“Obviously, our whole team has. Chaz Lanier didn’t even shoot the mid-range jumpers before he got here. Now he’s like George Gervin or something, and he likes them. He likes them. He takes ‘em and he makes ‘em. He came off of a pin down the other day, and turned, and I think he had like a foot inside the three-point line, and shot it, and it was beautiful. And after the game, I remember, like, that’s a horrible shot, but he makes it at a high clip. We’re gonna trust those guys, especially those green light guys, that really shoot the ball at a high level. So we let them take any shots they want, man. Long as they make them, go ahead and let it ride.”
On if senior guard Jordan Gainey gets the respect he deserves with how he is able to score the ball off the bench
“Not enough. I don’t. We know how good he is when it comes to that. We know how capable he is when it comes to that, but I don’t think he’s respected as much as he should be. He’s one of those guys that should be talked about as like a national sixth man of the year guy. I know John Rothstein put in an article not too long ago, and I don’t think people understand enough that that’s a sixth starter for us, man. He does a really good job of coming in with energy and playing with a lot of toughness and grit, and a lot of freedom when it comes to shot making. And he opens our offense up even more obviously.
“I think he demands a little bit more respect than he’s been getting, but, you know, he keeps that chip on his shoulder and keeps proving people wrong, he’ll get it.”
On how concerning the quick turnaround is after playing three physical games in three days at the SEC Tournament
“It’s no different than playing in an early season tournament, where you have multiple games and then coming back and trying to make sure that you get rested and get prepared for the next bout of games. Obviously, this is a quick turnaround. Usually you don’t play three games in three days, and then you turn around on a Tuesday and leave, but we did this a few years ago, and had to play on a Thursday. It was a quick turnaround.
“But I think that when you’ve done it before, as a program, you learn what to do and what not to do for that next time. So it’s a matter of us being really strategic in how we’re gonna get the guys rested, how we’re gonna get them extra time off their feet, how practice is going to be, what pace and what tempo it will be at. It’s just making sure guys have legs and they’re fresh and read to go.”
On when the last time he saw a player shoot underhand free throws, like Wofford big man Kyler Filewich does
“Rick Barry, didn’t he do that? In like the 1960s or something like that. Yeah, my mom was born then and she’s 60, so that’s a long time ago, but if it works for him, I’m good with it. Like, do your thing, big fella. And it looks like he works on them a lot. GP (Tennessee assistant Gregg Polinsky) does too in practice. But yeah, it’s effective for him. It’s obviously unique. I’m sure college basketball fans are gonna love watching it. It’s cool.”
Jordan Gainey
On facing Wofford’s Justin Bailey who Gainey played with at USC Upstate
“He’s a really good basketball player. Great guy off the court. He’s my little brother. He’s grown so much since my freshman, my sophomore year, his freshman year, and I’ve been tuned in every single game that he’s been at, been a part of since his sophomore year at Upstate and his junior year at Wofford. But tremendous basketball player, and he’s really strong, but it’s gonna be fun matching up with him again.”
On what stands out about Wofford
“They can really shoot the basketball and we played them a year ago, but they’re a completely different team, the same coach, same style of play, but they can really shoot the ball. They have good, really good guards. Sometimes they play four guards, but they’re really good, and they’re a slower paced team. But get what efficiently done what they have to.”
On what clicked for him at the SEC Tournament
“My teammates. My teammates really poured into me and made sure I stayed confident throughout anything that was going on. And we have the best point guard in the nation in Zakai. He’s giving you great passes and everything. It all just flows perfectly.”
On how close he came to finishing what would have been an and-one, left-handed dunk against Florida
“Pretty close, you know. It touched probably every piece of the room, but just got to throw it down with some more force next time.”
On if he’s talked to Justin Bailey yet
“Yeah, I called him as soon as I saw it, and he was at his selection show and everything. He was pretty excited, and I said, I’ll see you in Lexington. And he was like, I’ll see you in Lexington too. And I’m like, it’s gonna be fun. Glad we can both live out our dreams playing in March Madness, and we’re going to compete and play hard.”
Felix Okpara
On how excited he is to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time
“It’s really exciting. It’s one of the reasons why I came here. My last two years in college (at Ohio State), I haven’t really had an opportunity to play in it. It’s definitely gonna be a new environment for me, but I know I’m ready to play.”
On if it’s tougher to get physically or mentally prepared this time of year
“I would say for us, it’s really just mentally preparing because we’ve been walking towards this moment, to the postseason. We put in a lot of work in the summer. Also, I feel like we’re getting our body right. We just have to lock in mentally. We have one of the best strength coaches (Garrett Medenwald) in the country. He’s gotten us right all year.”
On where he’s at physically
“I’m really the best I can be right now. I feel like, you know, (during) the (SEC) tournament, we got a little banged up, but like I said, we’ve been building for this moment. I know a lot of teams in the country are really banged up too. After playing three back-to-back games, that’s kind of tough. For us, it’s just be mentally ready and push through.”
On how to take rebounding up a notch in the NCAA Tournament
“You just got to go for it. I feel like rebounding is one of those things, it takes effort, you know? You just gotta push through fatigue and you just gotta go get it.”
On what clicked for them offensively at the SEC Tournament
“We just find guys open. You get into sweet spots. Zakai drives into the lane, creating something, getting fouled, getting to the free throw line. We just want those key things that click for us.”
On how he feels Chaz Lanier runs off screens
“My job is just to try to get him open as fast I can. Chaz’s job is just to get right there, get his feet set and just get ready to shoot the ball. I feel like, for me, I’m a pretty good screener. 80% of 90% of the time I’m gonna get Chaz open. That’s why I try to get Chaz coming through my side, because I know I’m gonna get him open and it’s gonna be a great shot for the team.”
On how much he enjoys blocking consecutive shots within a sequence
“It was nice, but I was just playing off instincts. I’m a pretty good shot blocker. I didn’t really think too much of it, but, you know, it was cool. It also got the crowd going, which was really nice. We needed that a little bit, but I need to step my game up a little more. It’s time that starts. And I gotta be more aggressive defensively. I was trying to stay out of foul trouble a lot in Nashville, but it’s one of those things can’t control for real.”
On how physical Tennessee’s games against Auburn and Florida were
“It was definitely physical, but it was just kind of like, for me, it was hard to navigate because I didn’t know if the refs were letting some things go or letting others go. It was just tough for me because we were trying to match the physicality and some points they (refs) were interfering with the whistle. But like I said, it’s all things you can’t control. You just got to keep playing. Just play hard out there.”
On the spark Jordan Gainey brings off the bench
“He’s a very big player, big important player for this team. Coming off the bench, giving us, pretty much giving us off the bench, at least 15 a game. That’s really good for him. It’s kind of like the same role with Chaz, you know, he gets in the game, I try to get him open as much as I can, on my screens, and I can also get him involved in ball screens, because he’s a really good player going downhill, which is really good for us. You got a guy going down hill with force, go to the line and make free throws. So definitely, Jordan is going to be a key player for us in come the tournament.”
On how his post moves have developed at Tennessee
“It’s gotten better. You know, it’s for me, it’s just been trying to just simplify. Just trying to go to my strong hand and trying to finish as quick as I can, so I don’t get like two, three guys trying to corral me. And it’s definitely just, I think for me, it’s just I’ve gone way simpler, trying to less complicate it, and just trying to be quicker in the post when I get the ball.”
On if he’s ever seen someone shoot free throws underhanded
“No.”
Reporter: “You’re about to.”
Okpara: “I heard something about that, you know, but everyone got their own unique thing they do.”
