Jonas Aidoo shares how Tennessee stopped Brandon Miller

20200517_134556by:Justin Rudolph•02/17/23

The Tennessee Volunteers were able to stop the No. 1 team in the country Alabama on Wednesday 68-59. A huge part of their success was their ability to slow down the Crimson Tide’s offense led by star forward Brandon Miller. After the game, Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo shares how the team was able to limit Miller in the contest.

“I was talking to Jahmai two days before the game. I mean, he was locked in,” said Aidoo. “Like he was super locked in. He was talking about he’s gonna play hard, and we’ve seen that. He didn’t even score and had the highest plus-minus on the team. And I feel that phenomenal job with Brandon Miller. For the rest of the team, we knew if he got clipped on any ball screens, we had to help him, run him (Miller) off the three-point line, and just force him to take bad shots.”

Miller was able to record a double-double for Alabama on the night with 15 points and ten rebounds. Still, he was severely limited from the field. The star freshman finished the game 4-11 from the floor and 3-8 from beyond the arc. And credit for his not-so-sensational performance goes to the Volunteers Jahmai Mashack. He may not have scored in the game, but his defense on Miller more than made up for it.

Aidoo stresses importance of focusing on next game up

The Tennessee Volunteers picked up a huge victory Wednesday night when they knocked off the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. After a win like that, it could be easy for a team to lose focus. Which is why Volunteers forward Jonas Aidoo stressed, after the game, the importance of focusing on their next matchup.

“We can’t get comfortable. I mean anything can happen. So, we just gotta go in there and fight. We gotta get them back,” said Aidoo.

Tennessee’s next opponent is none other than the Kentucky Wildcats. Despite Kentucky having an up-and-down season, they have already beat Tennessee earlier in the season, At Thompson bowling arena 63-56. A win against Alabama on Wednesday was huge and could play a significant part in Tennessee’s seating in the men’s NCAA tournament in March.

But staying focused and knocking off Kentucky could be a much sweeter victory for the Volunteers. One: they will be exacting revenge on a rival that beat them on their home court. And two: a Tennessee victory could play a significant role in Kentucky missing the men’s tournament.