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Tennessee basketball is coming off one of its best wins of the season, knocking off Vanderbilt 69-65 in Nashville on Saturday afternoon. The Vols held Vanderbilt to its second lowest scoring total of the season and earned a marquee victory.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup at Missouri, Tennessee assistant coach Amorrow Morgan and wing Nate Ament met with the media and discussed what they did well at Vanderbilt, avoiding a hangover against Missouri and much more. Here’s everything the duo said.
On Tennessee’s defense holding both Oklahoma and Vanderbilt to their second-lowest point totals of the season
“I think our guys are starting to understand what it takes to be a really good championship-level team. They’re understanding the focus that you have to have over the course of the game. I think we’ve been really good in moments all season, but obviously moments, as you’ve seen, it can actually go the other way when you talk about the Kentucky games. We were one of the best teams in the country for probably 25 minutes of the game, and then there was a ten-minute stretch where we couldn’t score, or we didn’t want to defend. But they’re understanding the focus. And we’re starting to have some guys emerge as leaders and I think it’s kind of helped us remain locked in over the course of the game. So I think that was a huge piece and a huge reason why we were able to stay engaged and defend at that level. But I also want to credit our guards. Our guards have really been guarding.”
On who has emerged as Tennessee’s leader in recent games
“Bishop Boswell. Obviously, he’s been a lead-by-example guy. I think he’s consistently been our hardest-playing guy all season. And Coach (Rick Barnes) uses him as reference in film. Every time we watch film, he’s like ‘Take a look at this guy, look how hard he’s playing. Look at the level of commitment he’s playing with.’ And he’s learned that from some of the past really good players here. Jahmai Mashack, you see what he’s doing right now, he’s doing it at the highest level. And Zakai Ziegler. And he’s using that leadership. Now that he’s actually played, now he’s developing a voice, which has been really, really cool to see. And in huddles and practice, he’s the one that we consistently hear. So from there, other guys are starting to talk. And now that Ethan Burg is starting to play a little bit more minutes, he’s been more vocal as well in those huddles to try to keep these dudes connected over the course of the game.”
On Tennessee maintaining its defense at Vanderbilt during stretches without Bishop Boswell or Felix Okpara on the floor
“Yeah, it’s great. Those freshmen have earned some trust. DeWayne Brown, he has some of the longest arms I’ve ever seen. For him to just get that deflection, baseline out of bounds, he wasn’t jumping very high, but he ha- he has our highest standing reach on the team. And he came up with that ball. I think he surprised the in-bounder. I think it might have been Tyler Tanner. He was like, ‘Whoa.’ He got the deflection and went the other way. But he’s been so consistent. And Amari Evans is earning trust every single day. And Ethan is one of our better on-ball defenders as a guard. You look at him, you probably wouldn’t think that, but he’s mature, he’s strong, he’s physical, he can handle some contact. And he got a big steal on Tyler Tanner in that game. So just knowing that we have guys that, we can go to the bench with from a ninth or a tenth or eleventh man that can actually still keep their focus and us not lose just from a level of intensity and energy and physicality was really impressive to see. So we’re just going to continue to try to keep building on it, for sure.”
On what has caused Bishop Boswell’s leadership to grow
“I would say, one thing from talking to him is just getting experience. Like, I think the experience itself has led to him being extremely confident. He’s been playing really really well offensively. You’re seeing, he’s starting to be more aggressive offensively, and I think part of that’s coming with just experience, and he knows what the expectation is. We only have a few dudes in our locker room that played any minutes on that Elite Eight team last year, and now that Cade has gone down, he knows that he’s one of the guys that can, like, voice his opinion.
“And Felix has been a lead-by-example guy all year long, but we’ve been encouraging him to be more vocal as well. But I think it’s more in Bishop’s nature and his personality to be more vocal, and he knows that we need it, and we’ve been talking to him and pulling him to the side, saying, “we need someone to emerge as a leader.” And he just said, ‘Okay, Coach, I got you.’ And he’s really trying to put that effort forward to improve in that area. And the better leader he becomes, I think the better this team becomes. So I’m excited about how we continue to keep growing, because I think we have an extremely high ceiling, and we hadn’t even come close to reaching that yet.”
On taking care of the basketball raising that ceiling
“Absolutely. That’s a huge part of it. Coach wanted to point out to our guys that we had less turnovers than Vanderbilt. It was a huge part of the game. Like, and in the past, when we played these big games against these really good teams— quad one games— that’s been an area that we’ve really, really struggled. We might dominate the glass, we might dominate them with physicality, we might shoot the ball really, really well, but somehow they end up shooting 10 more shots than what we did. And Coach is, like, letting them know how important valuing the basketball is, and it’s hard because we have a young group.
“And like we said, like not having the leadership that we felt that we needed early on and the experience of having played in big games like that across the board, now they’re starting to understand what Coach has been saying all season long, and they’re starting to value the ball a lot more, and that’s an area we still got to grow in. If we can consistently do that, we’re obviously one of the toughest teams in the country, in our opinion. So if we can continue to do that, that’s going to show that we’re also one of the most skilled and one of the most cerebral teams. So like I said, I don’t know what our ceiling is.”
On if JP Estrella could potentially be available tomorrow
“I know he’s doing everything in his power to get back as fast as he can. I know he’s getting treatment right now two or three times a day. Like, he wants to be back. And we know that. We need the Moose— is what we call him. Like, he has such strong legs. We need him back. He’s such a dominant force on the offensive glass, and he adds another layer of depth and just another layer of skill. But I know he’s doing everything he can, so hopefully he’ll be back. If not, he’s just going to keep working until that time comes.”
On if a road trip to Mizzou after Saturday’s win at Vanderbilt is a tricky turnaround for Tennessee
“It can be, right? Mizzou, I don’t think they have necessarily, like, the flair of, you know, they’re not necessarily ranked in the top twenty-five, and it’s not necessarily a sexy game. Coach wanted those guys to know that Mizzou has been historically one of the best programs in all of college basketball. Twenty, thirty years ago, like, Mizzou was a top-fifteen program in the country. So just trying to get our guys to understand what we’re about to walk into in Columbia, knowing that they’re gonna have a hostile environment, and we gotta be ready for it, and they have a really good team. They have some of the best wins in the league, obviously. You know, Florida only has two losses, and one of them came from them. So we want our guys to understand what we’re about to walk into. They just came off a win with Vandy, and yeah, they lost a tough one against Arkansas, but we’re gonna have to earn this game. It’s not gonna be a walk in the park. Our guys got to come ready to go and be ready to focus, and hopefully, we can get another road win on the road.”
On what makes a good road team
“I think that our understanding is starting to identify, like, what goes into winning on the road. Like, culture travels, right? We have an extremely strong culture. Toughness, it travels, right? We have a tough group, but we’ve only been tough at moments in time. So now they’re starting to understand, like, the importance of what we’ve discussed is forty minutes, putting together an entire game. We’ve been telling our guys going into the second half, like, the score is zero-zero, no matter if we’re up ten, no matter if we’re down five, up twenty. Like, trying to get them to understand the importance of remaining focused and understanding and valuing every single possession over the course of the game.
“So, you know, getting our guys to continue to mature in that area, and like I told you, like, the leadership from Ethan Burg and Felix (Okpara), and Ja’Kobi (Gillespie) is starting to be more vocal, too, which is awesome. Bishop emerging as a leader, that’s gonna be critical for you to go on the road. Because there’s gonna be moments where Mizzou could go on a run, and what are we gonna do? Are we gonna splinter? Or are we gonna stay together? And those are where those voices are gonna play a huge part to make sure that we do stay together, to make sure that, you know, we do come out of there with a road victory.”
On what about Missouri’s personnel stands out
“They’re really good defensively. They’re extremely tough. Coach Gainey was talking about it yesterday. They are the tallest team in the SEC. They’re gonna have size. They’re gonna have a big (Trent Burns) coming off the bench that’s seven-five, who’s a redshirt freshman, who’s logging some minutes for them. He’s helped them protect the rim. And then Mark Mitchell’s playing really good basketball. Transfer from Duke. He was a really good player (at Mizzou) last year, averaged around fifteen a game last year. Right now, he’s averaging around seventeen a game. He’s been great for them. He’s gonna be tough. We got to contain him, and then their guards are playing really well. They’re tough. They’re gonna guard. Coach (Dennis) Gates does a really good job. So like we told our guys, we got to respect our opponent and not just respect them for the first ten, fifteen minutes. We got to respect them over the course of the game.”
On if Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt was as beat up as he’s been in a game
“Yeah, probably. They were super physical, so just got to learn to deal with it, I guess.”
On his jumper at the end of the game to put Tennessee ahead for the final time
“I mean, I was just trying to stay with the game. I mean, wasn’t really my game, but I knew at that time, time was probably running down, I could probably get us the best shot, and lost it a little bit, but just shot over him. I work on that shot a lot.”
On how big the contributions off the bench were
“Huge, huge. (DeWayne Brown), 30 minutes off the bench. Ethan (Burg) had huge minutes, 15, I think, something like that. But Coach (Barnes) always been talking about how, especially the deeper we get in the season, how big the bench is going to be for us. We have super good guys on the bench. So I’m just grateful that, you know, they’re stepping up.”
On how he seen Tennessee sophomore guard Bishop Boswell step up in a leadership role
“I mean, he’s always been a kind of leader for me, specifically. I mean, he’s always pushing me every day in practice since I got here, just to be a better defender, kind of just be the player he knows I can be. So for me, I’ve always seen it, but starting to speak up more, especially in like our team setting, group settings. So to hear his voice, especially someone who plays as hard as him, definitely does a lot for this team.”
On what Bishop Boswell says in team settings to inspire the team
“I mean, he kind of just preaches all the things that he does, really. Just playing hard, playing defense, doing all the little things. And he knows that, you know, our offense will take care of itself, but it’s all about our effort as a team.”
On what goes into being a good road team
“I mean, our coaches always say staying together, being the most connected group that always travels well. So us just being together, you know, no matter if we’re playing good, they went on run, we want on a run, always just helps us stay connected.”
On what stands out about Missouri
“They’re a really big team. Really good offensively, defensively. I mean, there’s a really overall solid team. We definitely got our work cut out for us, for sure.”
On how to avoid a hangover at Missouri
“I mean, today, practice and preparation will be huge. We have been watching a lot of film for this Missouri game. I would say, just our preparation in terms of watching film within the couple hours we have on the court today will kind of just be the difference for us.”
On how he felt getting out of bed Sunday
“A little bit, some bruises, some aches, stuff like that, but nothing too bad. I’m all good.”
On how it felt playing through physicality, what he learned about himself
“Well, I mean, watching film, I’ve learned a lot of stuff. You just got to be stronger, better with the ball. I think I did a good job staying with the game flow. The game didn’t really, I don’t think I forced too much, but, I mean, definitely things I can take away and learn in the film room.”
On how much more equipped he his to handle that physicality now then he was a few months ago
“Oh, yeah. I mean, a lot. I mean, I have a different type of body. I’m stronger than I was before I got here. And I think I’m just— grew overall.”
On where this team is at heading into March
“I think we’re, starting to get where we want to get to. Definitely still got a long ways to go. But, I mean, Coach Barnes and our coaches staff is doing a good job of pushing us to get there. And I think if we just, keep staying with it, attacking each day as it is, and we’ll get there.”
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