What associate head coach Justin Gainey said before Tennessee starts SEC Tournament play

What Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey said during shoot around Thursday morning in Nashville, ahead of the Vols starting postseason play Friday in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals:

March being the best time of year for college basketball players and coaches 

“You love it. You love it just because of what you’ve been through all season, it kind of leads up to this point and. Ideally you like to be playing your best basketball right now and finding that rhythm on the floor, also in the locker room with the chemistry and everything. So it’s an exciting time. You get to play multiple games, hopefully back to back to back. And it’s just ball. It’s just basketball, so we love it.”

If Tennessee has played some of its best basketball recently 

“I think we’re headed in that direction. Obviously there are areas we always want to continue to work on and get better at. But I do think we are doing some things as well as we’ve done it all year. But again, you want to just continue to get better and continue to improve with every practice, with every game.”

Doing a sit-down interview with his wife and son, Jordan Gainey, to reflect on the last two years coaching his son 

“Yeah, it was cool. My wife surprised us on it. She said she had to get an oil change or something like that. Next thing you know, she’s walking in the gym and it’s like what are you doing here? But it was cool. It was cool. It was great to be able to sit down and talk about our journey and some things that we do talk about at home. But to be in front of the camera and be able to open up about that, it was great. And to see her get emotional and with it and everything was it, it was cool. And it just speaks to just, man, the journey, the journey that we’ve been on, the journey that Jordan’s been on. And she’s been right there every step of the way and been a big part of it. It was cool.”

How tough this SEC Tournament is going to be, how deep the conference is 

“We always kind of knew it. I saw it kind of shaping up that way after the ACC-SEC challenge, right? We saw how dominant our league was in that challenge and, and you watching the preseason and watch us matched up against other teams and it just looks different. And so then you knew like, man, this league is going to be a monster. And then you get into it and every night it’s a battle. Every night you got great coaches, you got great players. And so to kind of get to this point and you watching the first round of the tournament and you see how competitive the games are. And I mean that Oklahoma-Georgia game last night was high level. It was some really good players out there. Obviously great coaching and it was an intense basketball game. So this league is great. It’s what they’ve done in this league, and elevated the level of play, is fantastic.” 

Tennessee losing its first game at the SEC Tournament last year, if that’s added motivation for this team or if it has even been addressed

“You know, we haven’t sat down as a team and talked about it yet. We will do that tonight as we kind of close in on who we think we’ll be playing, start preparing for that and with scouting and all that good stuff. But it will be something that we talk about, right? Because last year, again, we made it to the Elite Eight. Did that have anything to do with it? I don’t know. But I do know that every game we play we want to win, right? And you know, it’s about winning championships and so this is the second tournament that we’ve had this season and we won down in The Bahamas and it’s our intent to come here and try to win this one. And so yeah, it’d be something we talk about with our team because it wasn’t a great feeling. It wasn’t a great feeling. And going into the tournament you have a little uneasiness about how that performance went. So when you go into NCAA Tournament, you want to feel good about everything.”

if the fan support in Nashville helps them in a single elimination tournament

“I think so. It feels like being back at the Food City Center when we travel up to Nashville. It’s like Knoxville West. So we love it that our fans show out, show up and show out when we are up here in Nashville. And I think the guys, they feel it too. They love to hear that chant in the background.”

His reaction to the NC State job coming open, his interest level

“I was surprised, like I think everybody was. Being a graduate and former player there and somebody who worked there, I’ve always kind of kept my eyes on NC State just watching them play and everything. I love NC State. It’s a great place. As far as me and my involvement, I’m focused on what we’re doing here. Trying to win a SEC Championship. Trying to win a NCAA Tournament. The fact that I’m even mentioned, I’m flattered, and that’s in large part to what we’ve done here. I credit the guys I’ve had the opportunity to coach here. I credit Coach Barnes for giving me this opportunity to be even mentioned in such a great situation like that.”

Facing either Texas or Texas A&M Friday, beating both in the regular season

“I mean both of those teams are good teams. Both of them are well-coached teams, and I think regardless of who we play, nothing changes for us and what our mindset is and what we have to do. We got to defend, we got to rebound, we have to take care of the basketball. Those are the three things, regardless of who we play, we have to do. But our guys will be amped up, they’ll be prepared, they’ll be ready to rock and roll.”

If they’ve discussed the possibility of being a No. 1 seed with the team

“We haven’t and we really haven’t had a chance to really get together and kind of talk in depth about this tournament and the importance of the tournament. That’ll be something we talk about tonight as far as the No. 1 seed goes, I’m not sure we’ll share that with them, but I know they’re aware of it. I’m sure they kind of, they see what Joe Lunardi puts out and all of that stuff through the media. So yeah, that may be something we talk about.”

On Senior Day as both a dad and a coach

“It was special. It was special. It was one of those things for me where, you know, again, I had to wear both hats because, I look up first I’m hugging Igor, I’m hugging Z and those guys and their families. Then I’m running back to the end of the line to go be with Jordan and come through it. And so it was cool. It meant a lot to me. I’m thankful that this wonderful fan base accepted Jordan, accepted our family on both sides as a player and as a coach. And it was just an honor to be able to do it and try my best not to get too emotional with it. But inside it just felt really good to be dad. To be all dad at the moment.”

If he thinks it will be harder to win the SEC Tournament this year than the NCAA Tournament

“I don’t know, because I’ve never won the NCAA Tournament, never been to the Final Four, but that’s really hard. It’s really hard to win those four games in a row. To get to the Final Four is really hard to do.

“This will be challenging. This will be a battle. Every night will be really tough. As each game mounts, the pressure mounts. But, you know, I can remember being in that Elite Eight game last year. Purdue was pretty doggone good. The anticipation, the intensity of that game, you’re one step from getting to the Final Four. That is tough, too. So I think they’re equally tough. It’ll be equally as tough. So you just kind of gotta lock in in the moment, focus in on the moment and try to win every game that’s in front of you.”

What playing in the SEC Tournament this weekend will be like for Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier, who is a Nashville native

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s gotta be a special moment for him, to come back home and, you know, kind of got a glimpse of it when we played Vanderbilt this year, coming back home and having such a turnout with his family and friends. And so this is on another level, right? Bigger stage in the Bridgestone (Arena). And so I’m sure he’s excited about it, but he’s prepared and Chaz is a guy, as you get to know him, he’s an even-keeled kind of guy. He doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low. So I don’t think outwardly you will see the emotion and the excitement that he may have, but, you know, I can only imagine the feeling that he has. 

“Long, long time ago when I played, the ACC Tournament was in Greensboro. I’m from Greensboro and so, you know, it was emotional for me. So I can only imagine how he’s gonna feel.”

Soaking in the moment this time of year with his son, Tennessee guard Jordan Gainey, knowing that any game could be their last together

“It kind of set in today in shootaround. It’s like, man, this is it, you know? But I think the way you handle that is just stay in the moment, enjoy every moment and try not to let this one be the last one. And so you do that by winning, right? Taking care of all the little things that are involved in winning from the preparation to the execution of the game plan. And so yeah, I think about it, but then immediately go to, okay, if it is the last, let’s make sure we go out in a special way, let’s go out winning.”

Those who say it’s not beneficial to play a lot of games at the SEC Tournament the weekend before the NCAA Tournament

“Yeah, well the message is always, we gotta get better, right? We gotta use every opportunity we have together to get better. Whether that’s in practice, whether that’s in the film room, whether that’s in the training room, in every game. So that’s always been our thought process, starting from our exhibition games, starting from our closed scrimmages. We always want to get better, right? That’s the mindset going into this tournament.

“We don’t want to take steps back. We don’t want to walk into it saying, ‘hey, this could hurt (us) moving forward. No, we’re trying to get better. We’re trying to improve on everything that we do. And so that’s kind of the mindset we take with it. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves ’cause tomorrow’s never promised. You never know what can happen. And so we wanna take advantage of this moment.”