Videos from Gainesville gave No. 8 Tennessee all the motivation it needed against No. 5 Florida

Todd Golden clapped his arms together on the sideline, doing the gator chomp and celebrating with the home crowd in the final minute against Tennessee. Florida players rubbed it in with their actions and talk on the floor, too, letting the Vols know exactly what had just happened at Exactech Arena.

The Gators handed the No. 1-ranked Vols their first loss of the season in a 73-43 drubbing three weeks ago, the most lopsided loss of the Rick Barnes era. And Tennessee didn’t forget it. 

“Even the coaches were showing us the disrespect that Florida had when we were there,” senior guard Jahmai Mashack said Saturday afternoon. “They were showing us videos. Showing us a lot of the stuff. 

“We don’t take well to that. We’re a tough team. A team that plays hard every single game … knowing that, we all had a chip on our shoulders.”

‘I think a lot of people counted us out because of the people we were down’

The chip kept getting heavier Saturday morning, before No. 8 Tennessee got its rematch with No. 5 Florida at Food City Center. 

The Vols downgraded senior point guard Zakai Zeigler to out two hours before tipoff, due to the right knee injury he suffered in the 78-73 loss to No. 12 Kentucky Tuesday. Then, late in pregame warmups, senior forward Igor Milicic Jr. was ruled out with the illness that kept him out of practice Friday afternoon. 

Suddenly Tennessee was down to seven scholarship players available.

“I think going into the game,” Mashack said, “I think a lot of people counted us out because of the people we were down. I think a lot of people just assumed that Florida, and other teams as well, thought it was going to be easy coming in.”

Nothing came easy for the Gators once the game started. The Vols were shorthanded, desperate for a response and motivated to leave no doubt. And it all showed in the 64-44 win in front of a raucous capacity crowd in Knoxville. 

“We all banded together,” Mashack said, “and knew how tough we had to play. We knew what Florida did to us when we were there. We knew how we were going to have to come into this game. 

“I think we were excited to show not just Florida, but anybody watching, how good this team can be under any circumstance.”

Mashack called his shot after practice Friday. As Tennessee players huddled to close the workout, he told his teammates that the Vols had all they needed.

He was right, even if it didn’t come fully to fruition. 

“I think I envisioned more than a 20-point win,” Mashack said after the game. “I thought we were going to win by 40.”

Tennessee had enough because every player contributed. 

Mashack scored eight points, had eight rebounds and four assists. Jordan Gainey started for Zeigler at point guard and never lost control, scoring 16 points to go with a career-high five assists. He added four rebounds and three steals and turned it over just once in a team-high 37 minutes. 

Chaz Lanier bounced back with a game-high 19 points, going 5-for-9 from the 3-point line, and Felix Okpara had 10 points and eight boards.

Six of the seven scholarship players that were available scored four points or more. Five of the seven had five or more rebounds. Okpara and Cade Phillips combined for five blocks. Gainey and Mashack combined for five steals. 

Up Next: No. 8 Tennessee vs. No. 20 Missouri, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Rick Barnes referenced Mashack’s line both in his postgame press conference and in the locker room after the game. 

“We’ve got enough,” he said. “And we had more than enough.” 

And he referenced the postgame videos from Gainesville, too.

“I’m glad you guys took it personal too, by the way,” Barnes said.

Mashack said the clips that coaches showed Tennessee players were of Golden and Florida players “just getting down on us” and showed “the way they were talking.”

“It’s basketball and I think we don’t sugarcoat nothing,” Mashack said. “People talk, but we don’t take well to that. We’re humble. We go in and work every day but we’re not going to let anybody walk over us. That’s just how we play the game. 

“I think that’s just everybody here. That’s how we play the game. That’s been Tennessee basketball.” 

Gainey described his reaction as “very angry” and something the Vols “had to take personally.”

“We didn’t like what we saw,” he added, “and that point it just became personal to me.”

Lanier said he was “just fired up and ready to go.” And that he wasn’t alone.

“Everybody was excited for this one,” he said.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

“We’re a tough team no matter what,” Mashack said. “We want to make that known, that this is the same team that’s tough. We’re going to go into every game being tougher and going through that experience has helped us in the long run.”