Tennessee assistant coach Rod Clark previews Thursday's first-round game vs. Saint Peter's

What Tennessee basketball assistant coach Rod Clark said Tuesday morning while previewing the No. 2-seeded Vols (24-8) against No. 15 Saint Peter’s (19-13) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday (9:20 p.m. Eastern Time, TNT) at Spectrum Arena in Charlotte, N.C.:

How Tennessee has responded to the Mississippi State loss

“I think we responded well. I think it’s been a long time since we lost two back-to-back games. So getting back in here was about kind of getting back to the basics. It’s a fine line when you go to the tournament, with preparing for your opponent and also doing what you do and getting better at what you do as a team, especially this late in the year. So that was something that we wanted to emphasize and practice, especially with us not knowing our opponent. When we practiced on Sunday, it was just kind of about getting back to us, kind of having a practice that was reminiscent of a game. Coach told you guys, we went at it, it was good. Felt like the guys’ energy and their focus was really good.” 

Tennessee doing a better job defending the post in the NCAA Tournament than the Vols did against Mississippi State 

“You can’t let anybody get 40 points in the paint. I’m pretty sure that was to our worst defensive performance of the year. I’d rather a team make 15 threes than score that many points in the paint. And I think all of us as a coaching staff can all kind of said the same thing. I think we’d rather be better in that area and we will. That was one of those games where we just didn’t do a great job and we got really spread out. Everyone was worried about getting driven so they kind of got nailed to their guy a little bit and we didn’t stay in our gaps like we normally do. So again, refocus, get back to doing what we do. Have to do it at a high level, the high level that we’ve shown that we can throughout the year. And get back to that and doing it when it matters most, which is right now in March.”

Tennessee’s early scouting report on Saint Peter’s

“Really good team, scrappy team defensively. Really good. They fly around, very handsy, want to get after the ball. Obviously they have a lot of guys that play defense like Zakai. That’s the area he’s from, obviously. So it is gonna be a challenge for us. And making sure that we do a good job of playing to the rim, playing through contact, moving the ball, doing what we do offensively. Getting the ball up the floor, taking our open shots when they do dive and raking those gaps, things like that offensively.

“We’ll make the adjustment we need to defensively. We’ve got to make sure that we guard the drive. They’re a team that they can drive and kick and they can make some shots but they want to get to the realm. They have guards that can play, they can play basketball. So we got to do a good job and make sure that defense first has to be our mentality going in all these games. Because around tournament time, any given night, some guys can be stagnant offensively and not make some shots. It’s different referees than you’re used to. It’s a different style of play that you’re playing against versus the last however many regular season games. So it’s about kind of being prepared for anything and making sure that you’re ready.”

The process as a coaching staff of getting to work on the opponent as soon as the bracket is revealed on Sunday

“As soon as the matchup is dropped, you have your hooray moment. You’re excited, you made the tournament, happy for you guys. And then it’s time to go, it’s time to get to work. It’s time to prepare, it’s time to figure out how we’re going to beat these guys. And I’m pretty sure it was like that for every team in the country. You start trying to gather scouting reports, calling other guys from other leagues and trying to see what information they have. You make the tournament and obviously I called a few guys that I know from other leagues and try to get information and you get on the phone and nobody sounds happy. And it’s not because they’re not happy, it’s just because they’re focused. So it is no different here than it is anywhere else. It’s like the switch goes on when you want to start preparing for what’s to come and you have a limited amount of days. So a team that you’ve never seen, probably never watched all year, you have to start preparing for them like it’s your last game.” 

How to balance keeping Tennessee players locked in without them playing tight and feeling the pressure of the NCAA Tournament

“You make sure that you stress to them how hard it is to get to this point and to not take it for granted. We have a locker room that has won a lot of games over the last years, right? We got a lot of guys that you would classify as winners. So certain things they don’t celebrate as much as they probably should. And we try to make sure that we kind of keep the balance of that. Like be happy for yourselves. You guys got to a point, Coach said it in the team meeting the other day, you guys should be proud of yourselves. It’s really hard to get to this tournament. It’s really hard to get here as many years straight as you guys have, but you know, now it’s time to get a job done. Do you want more? Which is the question that we’ve asked since we were getting ready for the SEC Tournament. Do you want more or are you satisfied with what you have? And I think our guys want more. I’m pretty sure they do.”

Zakai Zeigler facing his brother, Saint Peter’s freshman guard Armoni Zeigler 

“It was funny because the guys, before the draw was happening, literally we’re talking about, man, what if we get Saint Peter’s, what if we get Saint Peter’s. Because a lot of our locker room knows ‘Moni, because on Zakai’s visit, Armani came down, he was here on the visit, he was here late in the summer. So Amani comes down a lot, man. ‘Moni, I love ‘Moni. I actually watched him during the summer after Zakai was already here and you know, ‘Moni is like a little brother to all of us. So the fact that we’re going to see him is fun. To be honest, the fact that we’re going to see him is great and it feels like family. But for those 40 minutes I’m gonna hate Armani. And I think everybody on our team will. But no, we love ‘Moni. It’s a great storyline. Obviously Zakai playing against his brother, I talked to a lot of the Zakai’s family. They’re all super excited, happy. It’s a beautiful moment for them because obviously they’re seeing their boys in a place where they didn’t really expect them to be years ago. So it is going to be a special moment. It’s going to be fun.”

Any similarities between this Saint Peter’s team and the one that went to the Elite Eight two years prior, given all the turnover within the program

“Different coach, different staff, obviously different personnel. I would say the gritty, up in your face style of play that they played before is the same. It’s the same. This team is a little less talented offensively than that last group was. But defensively, they’re still physical. They’re still really handsy. They try to get after you. They’re gonna be very reminiscent of that last team you saw. While playing St. Peter’s, you don’t go into this game like you’re playing a 15 seed.You’re playing St. Peter’s who actually two years ago beat Kentucky in the same round, right? So there’s no, we’re going in and we just gotta— nah, this is a huge game for us. This is a lot of attention to detail going to be put into play. Guys have to be locked in on the scouting report and we have to go into this game understanding that if we don’t go in understanding the urgency that we have to have in this game, this could be the last game that we play.”

What Tennessee post players have to do to be strong defensively

“It’s will. That’s all it is. You have to want to hold your ground down there. We threw JP Estrella in the game, late down the stretch against Mississippi State and we felt like he did the best job in post defense. And while that’s a bright spot and that’s great that JP was good defensively, but he’s a freshman. He’s not supposed to be better than our senior and our junior down there, or I’m sorry, our junior and our sophomore down there. So in film we were very direct with them. You know, in order for us to win, in order for us to keep going and go down the stretch, they have to be better. And when I say they, speaking of Jonas and Tobe, they have to be better. I talked to Tobe on the phone last night. We had that conversation. Coach’s talked to Jonas, we showed those guys films. So it is nothing to hide or run from. We’re not gonna act like we’ve been stellar guarding down there in the post. Like we have to get better and there’s no better time to get better at that than right now. So schematically and game plan wise, we’ll do some different things and look at some things that we have to do. But when it comes down to it, it’s just a willpower thing we have to guard down there.”

Where Tennessee having NCAA Tournament experience shows up the most on the court

“I would say the first four minutes of the game and the last eight minutes of the game. To me that’s where it shows up is the level of urgency. Your attention to detail, your understanding of the moment. You don’t understand the moment— playing in the NCAA tournament— unless you’ve been in the moment. It’s hard to understand it, right? Just from watching it on TV. So that’s gonna be something that even a guy as good as Dalton Knecht is going to have to lean on. Someone like Jordan Gainey is gonna have to lean on. Thinking of it, I think those are of the top eight guys that play, those are the only two that haven’t been to the tournament. Yeah, those are the only two. So the experience has to kick in. You look at Zakai Zeigler, he didn’t get to play in this tournament last year, so he’s extremely excited about this opportunity. The last time he was in the tournament we lost in the Round of 32. So he’s hungry. Obviously we feel like he’s better, he’s able to lead better than he was at that time being a freshman. So the experience has to kick in. These guys have to understand the moment more than anyone and they have to lead and you have to be able to look in their eyes and know that they know what to do down the stretch.”

The comfort of having Zakai Zeigler this tournament

“No, it’s huge. Last year going into the tournament without Zakai was like man, hey let’s just hope, let’s hope. Now it’s okay, we know. We feel like Zakai is one of the best point guards in the country if not the best. So we’re excited for him because we know it’s another opportunity for him to get out there on the biggest stage, which is the moments that he lives for. Having him is definitely welcome. Whether it is for our defense or our offense, but making sure that he’s able to be a calming presence on the floor during the biggest moments is, it’s exciting for us. We are excited to have him out there. I’m happy for him obviously because he was missing his tournament last year and we knew how bad he wanted to play. But it’s gonna be great to have that.”

What tape Tennessee coaches look at while scouting Saint Peter’s

“As a coach you have to think about it in this aspect. Like we could watch their Power Six games right from early in the year from their fifth or sixth game of the season. Chances are they’re a completely different team, right? You watch kind of their conference tournament, you watch some things that you saw from early in the season against those Power 6 teams. But you have to have an understanding that some of the things you might see them struggle with, they probably got better at throughout the course of the year and however they’re playing the tournament.  I mean St Peter’s in the conference tournament was a fifth seed, right? It was something like a fifth seed. They finish fifth in their league. So obviously they’re playing different right now than they had played through the course of the year. Guys in March, they get hot. They go on streaks, they go on runs. Kind of like the last (Saint Peter’s) team did with Shaheen (Holloway) and you know that you can scout all you want and you can’t simulate what they’re going to bring to you. Right? You have to look and you have to study and you have to have a game plan. But you got to understand like some guy that probably wasn’t making a ton of threes back in November is probably shooting lights out right now. He’s gotten hot, which has probably helped him to get to this point, right? Guys are guarding different than they ever have because the moment is so big and they’ve been waiting on this, how many guys sign to St. Peter’s and expect to go to the NCAA tournament, you know what I mean? Like it’s really hard. I’ve coached the in mid major leagues. It’s really hard. You almost like don’t care about the regular season because you want to win the tournament because that’s the only way you can get in. Guys that win 30 games that don’t get to the NCAA tournament because they didn’t win the conference tournament in Mid Major leagues. So you check out some of those numbers and what they’ve done in the past, but you also have to understand what they’re doing right now and what makes them good right now because that’s the version that we’re gonna get.”