On a night in which both teams were riddled with foul trouble, scoring was at a premium and Tennessee—in its first-ever non-conference true road game as the top-ranked team in America—was facing its toughest road environment of the season thus far, senior guard Jordan Gainey stared adversity in the face and beat the buzzer to give the Vols a 66-64 victory Saturday night at Illinois.
“We work on that play just about every day in practice and late-game situations, so we were all prepared for the moment,” Gainey said. “My teammates ran it perfectly and executed it.”
When senior guard Zakai Zeigler, the SEC’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, was whistled for his fourth personal foul with 18:13 remaining in the game, it was Gainey who shouldered the load of running the point for nearly the entire second half.
With Tennessee’s leading scorer this season, fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier, fouled out with 3:42 left in the contest and Zeigler picked up his fifth foul on the Vols’ final defensive possession, Tennessee needed one final push. The back-and-forth affair featured a 14th tie after Illinois’ Kasparas Jakučionis split a pair of free throws to even the score at 64-all with 5.7 seconds remaining.
Gainey inbounded the ball to commence what would be the game’s final trip down the floor, quickly received the ball back from Igor Miličić Jr. and crossed the midcourt line with 3.4 seconds left on the ticker. He snuck past Jakučionis, transitioned the ball to his right hand and scooped it softly off the glass from the left block, watching it roll around the iron and drop in as the buzzer sounded.
“Really, I saw the ball bounce and I just gave us a rep so everyone could get set up,” Gainey said. “Then, as soon as Igor popped open and he gave it back, I just saw my defender keep backing up and he just kept backing up. He was just dead in the water and it was too late for them to send a double because there was probably two seconds left. I was already at the rim at that point. We executed it perfectly.”
Logging 34:18 of action, Gainey’s performance included zero turnovers on the night. As a team, Tennessee’s zero turnovers in the second half marked its third time with zero in a frame in head coach Rick Barnes‘ 10-year tenure, including the first time in a true road outing.
Barnes, who considers Gainey to be Tennessee’s “sixth starter” in a sense, praised his focus down the stretch.
“We said, ‘hey, man, we’ve got to come through,’” Barnes said. “‘You’ve got to do it,’ and he worked really hard. They guard. It was a physical game. We knew coming in, they’re going to hit us with a lot of ball screens. Just screen, screen, screen, but that was a high-level game. But I’m proud of Jordan, because everything he gets, he’s worked for it. He’s earned it, and I’m just so glad he’s with us.”
Even aside of his game-winning bucket, Gainey had an excellent outing in a hostile environment. With a final stat line of 23 points, a pair of assists, two rebounds, a 6-for-14 ledger from the field, 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and an 8-of-9 tally from the free-throw stripe, the guard remained level-headed, despite the noted circumstances.
While speaking with the media postgame, Gainey gave credit to Zeigler for bettering his game in practice each day.
“Going against Zakai every single day causes me to get better each and every time. He works and we just compete each day. We’ve been competing since last April. We’re in the gym all the time and he’s giving me tips, giving me pointers about what I have to do to keep him off me, to keep pesky defenders off me. To be able to go against him every day has taught me how to keep the ball and not turn it over. And Coach Barnes is on us every single day about keeping the ball and not turning it over.”
Gainey was sent through the fire and he emerged stronger. He embraces opportunities to lead and will use Saturday’s experience to his advantage as the undefeated Vols round out non-conference action.
