Igor Milicic Jr. corralled a career-high 16 rebounds in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinal on March 13, 2024.
The efforts were not enough as his Charlotte squad fell to Temple, 58-54. The loss ended Milicic’s junior season with the 49ers, summoning a new start as the 6-foot-10 forward entered his senior season.
On Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, Milicic made his impact felt on the boards — securing a new career-high 18 rebounds in a 76-52 win to keep Tennessee undefeated.
“He was an attacker,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “The last game we got outrebounded and didn’t do the things that we had talked about. I thought we played hard the last game against Norfolk State but we didn’t play hard on the offensive glass and weren’t making an effort to get there. It’s got to be part of who we are, obviously. And it’s hard. It’s hard. We knew that he was a really good defensive rebounder coming here, but he’s done so much on the offensive boards. Did a lot today. He did a lot of good things out there.”
Milicic’s efforts were the most rebounds a Tennessee player has recorded in a game since March of 2014 when Jarnell Stokes hauled in 18 against Mercer. It surpassed Milicic’s previous season-high of 14 against Illinois.
“Coaches just tell me to go crash the boards so I just go and my teammates block out for me,” Milicic said. “I just got to go jump and get it. It’s really not that hard, honestly.”
The 6-foot-10 rebounder sat alongside 5-foot-9 point guard Zakai Zeigler postgame as he answered the question, nagging at the ease of bringing in a rebound. The two joked with each other, as Zeigler began by saying Milicic stole some of his rebounds — which Milicic answered back with Zeigler’s 10-rebound game earlier this season.
Milicic broke down the art of the rebound. Despite not being the tallest starter on the court, he paces the rebounding numbers for the Vols with 8.9 rebounds per contest — including an average of 11.8 over the last five games.
“You have to be consistent,” Milicic said. “Even though when you’re tired, you just have to crash it and believe that the ball is going to fall into your hands. Sometimes it won’t, sometimes it will. Today it did, so I’m happy with it.”
The coaching staff compares the art of a rebound differently. While breaking down the film, assistant coach Gregg Polinsky pulled up a football clip. It had no relation to basketball, but Polinsky believed the fight of yards after contact would put his players in the right mentality to go and bring down a board.
“After the game the other day, he showed a football clip of a running back that got hit,” Barnes said. “Talked about yardage after contact, and that’s what offensive rebounding is. You’re going to get hit. Can you go get some yardage afterward, and get yourself in position to either get it, open up a gap for somebody to get it, tip it back.”
That clip did exactly what it needed to for the Vols against Arkansas. Alongside Milicic’s 18-rebound outing, Tennessee brought down 51 rebounds with 24 on the offensive end. The Razorbacks could only snare 29 with nine on the offensive glass.
“That’s normal,” Zeigler said of Polinsky’s practice clips. “Sometimes coaches be showing clips that aren’t basketball. They might show us something like golfing and their mindset or they might show us football and yards after hit. Showing us stuff like that will get us mentally ready more than anything. If we put our mind to it, we can do anything out there on that court.”
Tennessee can substitute the football clips with game highlights of Milicic on the glass now as the Vols prepare for the next game. Tennessee’s upcoming test features a one-loss Florida team on the road, signifying the toughest battle yet for the Vols in the second game of conference play.
