Tennessee assistant coach Justin Gainey talks SEC awards, previews Vols in the postseason

Tennessee basketball associate head coach Justin Gainey met with reporters Monday to discuss the Vols winning SEC awards and previewed the postseason and the SEC Tournament later this week:

Dalton Knecht winning SEC Player of the Year and his journey to Tennessee 

“It’s amazing. I’m super excited for him, super proud of him. His journey is one that you kind of read about, like fairytale-type deals, you know, and just to see him get to this point, to achieve what he’s achieved, and it’s amazing. But it goes to his hard work, his work ethics, mindset, his confidence and belief in himself. And I know he had a lot of people along the way helping him, friends, family, relatives, all of that. But it’s special. It is really special to do what he’s been able to do in this season here at Tennessee. And I hope everybody appreciates it as much as I know we do. But I mean, he was magnificent this year. 

The moment he realized what Tennessee had in Dalton Knecht

“You know what, I think you kind of saw it this summer. The shot making ability, the ability to score at the rim. But I think after the first time Coach (Barnes) really jumped on him about his defense, told him if you don’t guard you’re not going to play. And the next practice he probably scored about 40 points in practice. And it was like he didn’t flinch. And his confidence never got shaken. And I remember him telling me like, that’s why I came here. I came here to become a better defender and that’s why I’m here. So yeah, I want Coach getting on me. And that’s when I knew it was like, he’s different, he’s different.”

What it’s like being on the Tennessee bench when Dalton Knecht goes through one of his scoring spurts

“You think you kind of would get used to it, but every time he goes on those stretches, it’s just like wow. It’s just big shot after big shot, tough shot after tough shot. And in the different ways that he kind of gets it, you sit back in amazement. And it’s only a handful of guys in the country that can fill it up the way that he does when he goes on those runs.”

Dalton Knecht wanting Rick Barnes to coach him hard and what that says about him

“It shows that he sees the big picture and that he’s not a guy that wants to be patted on the back and told how great he is. He wants the real. He wants it real. And he wants to get better. And so he knows that what Coach Barnes, his resume, he knows the guys he’s worked with and that (he has) helped get to where he’s trying to get to and do the things he’s trying to do. And it speaks volumes. It speaks volumes for Dalton that he welcomes that coaching, that realness and the tough love coaching.” 

The heart and desire of Zakai Zeigler, winning SEC Defensive Player of the Year at his size

“He’s had a great year defensively and offensively, and just coming back from what he came back from. It speaks volume about his toughness and his tenacity. And he’s just a pesky defender, man. He’s great and he energizes this team. And we’ve been a top-five defense the last three years and he’s had a lot to do with it. His initial point of defense really sets the tone for our guys and in this program.”

How tough it is to return from ACL injury in the way Zakai Zeigler has done

“Oh, it’s really tough because, you know, that injury and although the technology is getting, it gets better and better every year, it’s still a tough injury to come back from. You got the timing, the feel of the game, all of that stuff. And he attacked that training this summer and he had some rough days, you know. I’m not gonna sit here and say every day was great, but he had some days where he might have doubted himself and doubted it, but he just kept going. And our strength and conditioning staff between Coach Garrett and Chad, those guys were phenomenal with him during that process. And while he was out, he did a lot of work on his shooting too, form shooting and all that. He didn’t just sit back and feel sorry for himself. He just attacked it like he attacks everything else. And again the start was slow. The beginning of the season was a little slow and he finally caught rhythm and just kind of took off from there. So for Z, man, I’m so proud of how he responded to that adversity and multiple encounters with adversity. He just continues to bounce back and fight. And he’s in a great space right now.”

How rewarding it is to have two of the five All-Defensive players in Zakai Zeigler and Jonas Aidoo

“It’s very rewarding. It speaks to coach Barnes’ emphasis on that side of the ball and ability to push guys, put guys in position to be really effective there. And then for the guys to embrace it, you know, it doesn’t happen without those guys and embracing the defensive side, and that’s what they’ve done. That’s what they’ve done and done it at a high level.”

The Tennessee coaching staff’s first impression of Dalton Knecht

“Yeah, with Dalton, I don’t think it was ever a point where we, I mean, we knew he was good. Like, you watch the video, you see the highlight clips, and he’s he’s talented, he’s skilled, he’s got a lot, you know, but never did you think this. I wouldn’t say we all sat back or even Rod sat back, man, you’d have to ask Rod what he thought about that, but we never in meetings said, ‘Hey, this guy’s gonna come in and average 20 points, he’s gonna boom, boom, boom.’ We thought he was gonna be a great piece. He could shoot the ball. I didn’t know he was as good as he was in transition. And that was an area where I thought we could grow in from last year’s team to this year’s team. But you saw the athleticism, you saw the shot making, you saw the slashing, you get to the basket – a little in the highlight films – but you never knew it would translate into what level it would translate. And so I don’t think any of us thought, you know, hey, he would come in there, you know, do what he did. We thought he’d be a good player, didn’t really know what that looked like. We all knew there were limitations on defense but you didn’t know, hey, would his offense outweigh the defense? And because, you know, coach [Barnes] is real about it. Like, if you don’t guard you can’t play, you’re not gonna play. And so that was always kind of the question in the back of our heads. Will he be able to guard enough to get on the floor and to gain coach’s trust? And so, yeah. But as far as knowing, no, nobody really, really knows.”

How Important Jonas Aidoo’s growth has been to the overall success of the team:

“Yeah, it has been fun watching his growth over the years. Seeing him as a freshman, sophomore, gaining weight, getting healthier, staying healthy, being mature about taking care of his body to where he’s now, where he’s, I mean, super reliable, consistent. We know we’re gonna get to him in one of the best big man defenders in the country. And for him it has been a journey because his high school path was a little different as well, where not highly recruited, went to prep school, kind of took off from there and then changing commitments afterwards. So it was a lot that happened with him and he just stuck with it. He was behind some really good bigs here when he got here early. Never quit, never gave up, never had doubt. And so to see him where he is now, it shows his love for the game, his passion for the game, but also just his wanting to get better and continue to grow. And with that his confidence has grown. He’s gained confidence in Coach, and Coach has more confidence in him. And he’s been able to take off a little bit.”

How to make sure Tennessee stays on edge following the accomplishments it’s earned over the last week or so

“Yeah, it’s important that we do stay on edge, but you know, Coach (Rick) Barnes does a great job of keeping those guys , you know, revved up and geared up. But we have an older group, you know? We have some older guys, a lot of older guys that understand what March is all about. And that if you lose once, your season is over, you’re done. So it’s guys that’s been through it, they know what it feels like and they’re motivated. 

‘“Winning the SEC regular season was one of our goals. We checked it off. Another goal was to win the SEC Tournament, right? And so our team, they’re really goal-driven and goal-oriented, and I think they’re just gonna continue to chase those goals. That’s why the complacency doesn’t bother me as well because I feel like we have a good infrastructure to keep these guys motivated. Keep them going.”

If maturity is the reason they’ve been able to bounce back from losses this season

”I think so. They haven’t let the losses, you know, like one loss lead to two, lead to three. They do a great job of bouncing back. We’ve done a great job of learning from our mistakes and becoming better from it. So I think the maturity, but also the focus, the laser focus and you know, this year when we had losses, the bounce back, we always said our goal is still there. Our chance to win the league is always, it’s still there. And so we gotta keep going. We can’t let this one affect the next one. We’ve gotta grow from it to learn from it, and that’s kind of been the mindset.”

If the recent accolades add any pressure to the postseason, or is that outside noise

“We’ll see. We’ll see. You know, again, I don’t think so. I hope not, but they are young men and those are big-time accomplishments. But, you know, knowing our guys, I know how team-oriented they are. Our culture is ‘not about me.’ And they embrace it. Dalton all year with interviews and whether it’s 40-point games, 39-point games, whatever, he’s always talked about his teammates and his teammates helping him and putting him in position to be great. So I don’t anticipate any fallback from that. If anything, I think, and again, both of those guys are the most humble players that I’ve been around. So I think they’ll probably deflect some of, as much of the attention as they possibly can and be ready to move on to this SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament.”

Jonas Aidoo having success and how much that means to him given how Aidoo followed him to Tennessee

“Yeah, it’s been a, you know, proud moment for me in that aspect, because we have been on this journey for a long time and you know, you think about how rough the freshman year was and at points the sophomore year had some bumps in the road. And for our staff it’s telling him, ‘Hey, keep believing us. Keep going. Trust us on this.’ And for him to have that trust and to believe in us, it makes us very, very proud that he stayed the course and fought through adversity to get to where he’s got to ’cause it hasn’t always been easy. It’s been rough, it’s been tough and I’m sure at points, he had doubts about everything and he stuck with it. And, you know, he loves Tennessee, loves Tennessee, and I’m just, I’m happy for him. I’m ecstatic for him. Him and his mom.”

Jonas Aidoo not showing much emotion but flipping the switch during the games

“I don’t know what it is. You know, he’s kind of one of those sneaky competitive guys when he gets out there and, and you don’t see it ’cause he doesn’t show a lot of emotion and we are trying to get him to do that. I’ll try to hit him with some motivational talk right before he walks out to the jump ball to kind of get him going a little bit. He’ll give me the head nod, ‘I got you Coach.’ But he does have some fire in him. You’ll see it with the block, maybe a dunk, he gets a little scream out and all that good stuff. But he’s just kind of one of those even-keeled, straight-faced guys. But I never questioned his readiness, his intensity. He’s ready to bring it.”