Justin Gainey shares initial thoughts on Vanderbilt matchup

Tennessee will travel less than 200 miles for their next game, as they visit Vanderbilt in Nashville for a Wednesday night SEC showdown. The Volunteers haven’t been defeated by the Commodores in the regular season since the 2016-2017 season, and will look to continue their winning streak in a few days. Vols’ associate head coach Justin Gainey previewed their upcoming matchup with Vanderbilt on Monday heading into the game.

“Obviously it’s a rivalry game right, in-state rivalry and they’re well coached,” Gainey said. “Coach Stackhouse does an amazing job and they always play us close. They’re a really good team, they’ve been playing well this season.”

The scoreboard has not exactly rewarded Vanderbilt’s play this season, as they’ve only won four SEC games so far this season. But they did recently break a three-game losing streak, defeating Ole Miss 74-71 in their last contest. The Commodores are currently 11-12 under head coach Jerry Stackhouse, and will be looking to get back to .500 versus the No. 6 ranked Volunteers.

“It’ll obviously be a tough one, but again, we’re going to continue to work to get good shots and we believe those shots will fall. We’ve got good shooters, we got guys who can score the ball and so we feel like keeping doing what we’re doing and those shots are gonna fall,” Gainey said.

The Volunteers lead the SEC in point differential this season, beating opponents by 17.7 per game, but their shots were not falling in their last contest. The Vols narrowly defeated Auburn 46-42 in a game where there was a lid on the basket for the majority of the game for both teams. Tennessee shot 27% from the field and 9.5% from three point range versus the Tigers, and will be looking to leave their shooting woes in Knoxville in their next matchup.

Tennessee’s Josiah-Jordan James was the only Vol that could get things going on the offensive end in their last game, recording his first double-double of the season with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. He’s one of four Tennessee players averaging double-digit scoring numbers this season, but was the only one to reach double figures versus Auburn.

The Vols will be looking to put their offensive woes behind them, and the Commodores will be looking to change their recent history versus Tennessee, as the two will face off on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network.