'He is a weapon': Jahmai Mashack's role for Tennessee? Make winning plays

Jahmai Mashack crashed the offensive glass but didn’t come down with the rebound. What he did do Saturday afternoon against Illinois was get a deflection on his way down, causing a loose ball in the paint. 

The ball found Mashack near the baseline after bouncing away from a scrum of three players. He took one dribble, looked up and threw a two-hand pass to Dalton Knecht, who stepped into an open 3-point look at the top of the key.

Knecht hit the shot with 13 minutes, 41 seconds left in the game, building Tennessee’s lead to six and capping an electrifying, game-changing 10-0 run for the Vols.

Knecht made the play, but it was Mashack who made it happen. 

“I feel like you can feel the energy,” Mashack said after the 86-79 win at Thompson-Boling Arena., “whether you were playing or watching, and I think it’s just what we do. It’s definitely what I do and what I take pride in.”

Mashack plays a lot of roles, but the most important one is making winning plays. 

“I thought Jahmai played his role to the hilt,” Rick Barnes said after the game.

Mashack, Tennessee’s 6-foot-4, 201-pound junior utility knife, can play one through five on the offensive end and can defend one through five on the defensive end. 

He’s as comfortable bringing the ball up the floor as he is fighting for buckets in the post. 

“He’s running the point for us,” Tennessee assistant coach Rod Clark said last week, “he’s running the four, he’s played the two and the three.”

He’s as comfortable guarding Syracuse guard Judah Mintz as he is scrapping with 7-foot-4 Purdue center Zach Edey or denying Illinois wing Terrence Shannon Jr.

“I don’t think it’s any confusion,” Clark said, “with what he needs to bring defensively.”

‘What Jahmai does wins basketball games for you’

Mashack on Saturday against Illinois scored nine points, hitting his only two shots from the field and going 5-for-6 from the foul line. He added four rebounds and had three assists. He played 12 of his 15 minutes in the second half, helping the Vols rally from down five points.

His favorite moments, though, were when Shannon wasn’t able to do what he wanted. Denying an opposing team’s leading scorer are the moments Mashack lives for.

“I think a lot of the possessions when Terrence wasn’t touching the ball,” Mashack said, “it seemed like they kind of got away from (him) and tried to run through someone else. Plays like that are something people probably don’t notice.

“ … When you can get a team to try and go away from that and look for different options, then that means what you’re doing on that guy is working.”

Shannon scored 22 points but got 11 at the foul line and scored nine in the final two minutes, in desperation mode his team down 10. He finished 5-for-16 from the field, including just 1-for-6 from the 3-point line.

“In my head, that was the main goal for me,” Mashack said of defending Shannon. “Just to try and get them to look for other options rather than their go-to. I have to say that those plays alone, him not touching the ball or them trying to get other options, are big big plays in my opinion.”

It’s nothing new. When Tennessee upset No. 1 Alabama in Knoxville last season, Mashack limited Brandon Miller, the soon-to-be No. 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft, to just six points while he was defending him. Miller went 0-for-6 from the floor against Mashack.

“In terms of affecting the game in so many different ways,” Barnes said, “(Mashack) embraces it and when he does that, he is a weapon.”

Up Next: No. 12 Tennessee vs. Georgia Southern, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Mashack is shooting 42.4% from the field this season, but averaging just 5.3 points per game. He said Saturday that he’s getting more comfortable with catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts, but he’s just 1-for-6 from three on the season.

He’s seventh on the team in minutes (18.2), assists (10) and scoring. He’s sixth in assists (6) and rebounding (27). He’s tied for fourth in steals (7) and third in blocks (five).

But his stat line is never going to showcase everything he does to help his team.

“I feel like I can affect a game,” Mashack said, “whether I’m scoring or I’m not.” 

He knows he can affect his team the most by being resilient — that’s the term he used himself on Saturday — and doing whatever he’s asked, wherever he’s asked to do it.

“It has been very difficult to try and figure out your role,” Mashack said. “Just since I have been here, I have changed so much and I have fit into so many different gaps and lineups and different positions. That is what I was made to do. I am not running from any challenge no matter what. I have the confidence that I can adjust. 

“Big thing for me and I think the main thing that if you think of Jahmai Mashack, you think of resilience … just adjusting to my game and being resilient, that is just who I am. You can put me anywhere and I am going to figure it out and we will be successful.”

You can put him anywhere and he’s going to make his team successful. He’s going to make winning plays.

“What Jahmai does,” Barnes said, “his role is as important as anybody on the team — as much as Dalton’s, everybody thinks he is going to score the ball — what Jahmai does wins basketball games for you.”