Jahmai Mashack: Tennessee's win over Florida showed 'the sky is the limit for this team'

Jahmai Mashack didn’t try to hide it. Instead, he just came out and said it on his own. When Tennessee is losing games, when the Vols aren’t playing their best, the players see the criticisms that come their way. 

“I think when it comes to just my mindset, we’re on social media,” Mashack said Saturday afternoon. “We’re teenagers, we see all the stuff about us whenever we lose. How people kind of put a cap on how good we can be sometimes. And it’s hard. It’s hard.”

No. 8 Tennessee’s 64-44 win over No. 5 Florida at Food City Center made things easier to end the week, with the Vols bouncing back from the 78-73 home loss to No. 12 Kentucky Tuesday night and ending a skid of three losses over the last four games. 

It was a 76-75 upset two weeks ago at Vanderbilt. Last Saturday it was a knock-down, drag-out 53-51 loss on the road at No. 1 Auburn, with Tennessee unable to close after leading by four with two minutes left.

“Just being on this team and going through those losses,” Mashack said, “guys have been put in those situations before. I’ve been put in that situation. I’ve been through seasons where we’re up and down, where you kind of roll with the punches.”

Vols beat Florida by 20 without Zakai Zeigler, Igor Milicic Jr.

Mashack was part of a 27-win team in 2022-23 that was upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He was the makeshift point guard a year later when Zakai Zeigler was lost to a torn ACL in his left knee in the final home game two years ago. The Vols were a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a popular pick to be upset in the first round. What they did, though was beat No. 13 Louisiana then No. 5 Duke to get back to the Sweet 16.

Mashack was rallying his team again Friday afternoon, after Zeigler missed a second straight practice with a right knee injury and Igor Milicic Jr. was out with an illness. Florida, the team that beat Tennessee by 30 points three weeks ago in Gainesville, was making the return trip to Knoxville. 

“The main thing I was saying,” Mashack said of the message to his teammates after the Friday afternoon practice, “was all the odds are stacked against us right now. All we can do is play free. All we can do is play how we’ve been practicing. 

“We’re a good enough team to go as far as we want to go, but it’s on us. It’s not on anybody else. The sky is the limit for this team.”

‘Everybody panicked because we weren’t making shots. And like I said, we’ve lost four games to four really good teams’

The doubts that do exist started to creep in at Exactech Arena on January 7, when Florida won 73-43 to end Tennessee’s perfect 14-0 start to the season and the five-week run at No. 1 in the rankings.  

The response on Saturday, when the Vols got their second look at the Gators, came from just about everyone. Without Zeigler and Milicic, Tennessee was down to seven scholarship players, but got eight points, eight rebounds and four assists from Mashack.

Jordan Gainey had 16 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals in place of Zeigler at point guard. Chaz Lanier ended his recent cold streak with a game-high 19 points, going 5-for-9 from the 3-point line. 

Darlinstone Dubar made his first start, in place of Milicic, and had four points, five rebounds and three assists. 

“We have guys who are playing a role right now that can go from scoring 25 points to scoring five points and getting 10 rebounds,” Mashack said. “We have a guy like D-Stone who was amazing last year (at Hofstra), can come in and play a role like he did tonight. He can do multiple things. 

“JG, Chaz, Cade (Phillips), Felix (Okpara), Bishop (Boswell). We have some many guys on this team that can do those things. And me saying that was just a reminder of how good we can be, even when our backs are against the wall.”

Up Next: No. 8 Tennessee vs. No. 20 Missouri

Tennessee (18-4, 5-4 SEC) will have to keep doing it when No. 20 Missouri (17-4, 6-2) comes to Food City Center on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network. 

Head coach Rick Barnes said Tuesday night after the loss to Kentucky that the Vols weren’t that bad off, having lost only four games.

He reiterated it Friday afternoon before practice, seeming aggravated by questions about missed shots — Tennessee went a hard-to-believe 11-for-45 from the 3-point line against Kentucky — and the rough stretch his team was going through. 

“We talk about once you get into conference play, you’re going to have some up and downs,” Barnes said after the win over Florida. “You’re going to hit some bumps in the road. You don’t know what they are, but you expect them. And that it’s how we respond to them.”

That was the conversation that took place Friday night. How would the Vols answer? 

“This is a chance to respond to a tough situation,” Barnes said. “Everybody panicked because we weren’t making shots. And like I said, we’ve lost four games to four really good teams. And (we) won a game against an outstanding team, a team had a beat us about 30 a month ago.”