Tennessee starter makes honest admission about win against the Florida Gators that Vols fans will love
Not many folks gave the Tennessee Vols a chance against the Florida Gators this past weekend due to UT missing two key players (Zakai Zeigler and Igor Milicic both missed the game against Florida). Tennessee, however, put on a defensive clinic against the Gators while locking down a 64-44 win in front a rowdy crowd […]
Not many folks gave the Tennessee Vols a chance against the Florida Gators this past weekend due to UT missing two key players (Zakai Zeigler and Igor Milicic both missed the game against Florida).
Tennessee, however, put on a defensive clinic against the Gators while locking down a 64-44 win in front a rowdy crowd in Knoxville.
After the win, Vols starting guard Jahmai Mashack admitted that Tennessee had extra motivation for the game because of the disrespect they experienced from the Gators after UT's 30-point loss in Gainesville in early January.
"I know these guys, I know how much they want to win," said Mashack. "And I know how much — even the coaches were telling us just the disrespect that Florida had when we were there. And they were showing us videos, showing us a lot of this stuff and we don't take well to that. We are a tough team. We're a team that goes out and plays hard every single game. We work on our game every single night. So knowing that, we all had a chip on our shoulder. There wasn't much that I really had to say that they (his teammates) weren't going to do already. Everybody that walked into that court was ready to run through a brick wall, including me."
Tennessee made it personal against Florida and the Vols won a game that no one expected them to win as a result.
Vols head coach Rick Barnes and his staff certainly deserve a lot of credit for having Tennessee motivated in a big game. Properly motivating a team, after all, is one of the most important jobs of any head coach in any sport.
