The stretch before the new year is an awkward one to deal with.
Christmas makes a break for Tennessee basketball players to head home, but conference play begins once the calendar flips over. That opens the chance for distraction — though not for the Vols, who have rattled off a pair of wins after three straight losses.
“They go home and do their deal with their families, which they’re supposed to, but they came back with a great mentality,” assistant coach Bryan Lentz said. “I know some guys were here before practice — coming back before our first practice — and got some work in before to kind of get going. They’ve been great. There’s not been a distraction, in our opinion.”
Now that the players have returned, they’ll get one more tango before the gauntlet of conference play begins. South Carolina State happens to be that final tuning.
The Bulldogs enter with a formidable 1-13 record, earning a lone win over NAIA Brewton-Parker College. Last time on the court, the Bulldogs got a taste of SEC basketball in a 25-point loss to South Carolina.
That same Gamecocks squad was picked to finish last in the conference preseason.
“I know it sounds coach-speak type stuff, but it’s always the team that’s in front of us,” Lentz said. “And we’ve prepared for South Carolina State, things that they do that lead us into SEC play. And our leader, our boss, never has a bad day in practice, as you guys know. He never has a bad day. So it doesn’t matter what the team is or who it is, it’s about us. And coach does an amazing job doing that.”
Regardless, it is an opportunity to right the wrongs. Tennessee has been on a roll since its 10-day break after a third loss to Illinois.
“I feel like our stretch where we had 10 days between games, I feel like those are our best 10 days of the year,” freshman Amari Evans said. “I thought we got a lot better. Everybody got in sync with each other. Everybody’s connecting. We’re still learning each other more, and I feel like we got a lot closer.”
It also includes the emergence of guys figuring out their roles. None is bigger than Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who has assumed the task of replacing Zakai Zeigler. Lentz notes the point guard position under Rick Barnes as one that is the ‘coach on the floor.’
Those responsibilities include operating multiple plays ahead, organizing things from a coach’s perspective as the floor general.
“He’s starting to learn what it takes to play point guard at University of Tennessee,” Lentz said. “And the organization part, when things don’t work, if we call a quick hitter or things of that nature, what are we going to do? How are you going to organize us? And he’s gotten better. And I think we’ve done a better job of that lately.”
And when Gillespie has needed a breather, a part of the reserve unit has featured Evans, who had hardly been in the rotation to begin the year.
But with Cade Phillips’ season-ending surgery, Evans’ versatility and his value proposition, he’s been a piece that is hard to keep off the court — barring foul issues.
Evans has played 29 combined minutes over the last three games while being limited to seven against Louisville due to fouling out in that span on the court. He tied a season-best 12 minutes against Gardner-Webb, being an asset with six points, three rebounds and three steals.
“Just trying to do whatever coach Barnes needs me to do,” Evans said. “If we’re in film, and he says, ‘we need somebody to rebound,’ I’ll try to go on the floor and I’ll try to rebound. If we need somebody to guard, I’ll just try to do all the little things that I don’t think a lot of people who play against us want to do, so that’s what I try to do.”
Those are the things that will need to carry over when Tennessee takes the court when the year flips to 2026. But first, they’ll need to take care of business at 8 p.m. ET against South Carolina State on Dec. 30.
