Tennessee sophomore guard Jahmai Mashack recorded a scoreless performance to remember Wednesday night.
Owning the task of trying to slow Alabama 6-foot-9 freshman forward Brandon Miller, the 6-4 Mashack helped hold the likely NBA lottery pick to 15 points on just 4-of-11 shooting as the No. 10 Volunteers stymied the top-ranked Crimson Tide 68-59 inside Thompson-Boling Arena. Miller entered the top-10 showdown of Southeastern Conference teams averaging 18.8 points per game, with Alabama averaging 83.4 as a team.
“We tell our guys all the time that you’ve got to find ways to impact a game without scoring, because everybody wants to score,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said afterward. “The intangibles he brings — you’ve got to have that on the court. You’ve got to have it.
“He’s going to be in the lineup because of what he does.”
Mashack started in place of injured senior guard Josiah-Jordan James (ankle) and played 27 minutes and 19 seconds. He finished 0-for-4 from the floor and tallied three rebounds, two assists and three steals.
In Mashack’s time on the court, the Vols (20-6, 9-4) outscored the Crimson Tide (22-4, 12-1) by nine points, giving him the top plus/minus margin of the evening.
“He was locked in two days before this game,” Tennessee sophomore forward Jonas Aidoo said. “He was super locked in. He had the highest plus/minus on the team, and I feel like he did a phenomenal job on Brandon Miller.”
Said Vols sophomore point guard Zakai Zeigler: “Brandon Miller is a pretty good player, but when Jahmai is locked in, it’s hard for anybody to score on him.”
Miller isn’t the first SEC standout who has been limited by Mashack, just the latest. When the Vols opened league play Dec. 28 with a 63-59 victory at Ole Miss, leading Rebels scorer Matthew Murrell scored just five points on 1-of-11 shooting.
Following that win, Mashack said, “I love seeing people frustrated, and I love seeing people frustrated because I’m defending them.”
“Mashack is definitely in there for his defense,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said Wednesday night. “He was physical with Brandon and made Brandon’s night a lot harder. They’ve got defensive players on that team if you go down the line.
“Mashack played more than 27 minutes and didn’t score a point, so he’s obviously in there for his impact on the defensive end, and he did a great job.”
Minutes for Mashack have fluctuated this season depending on the health of James. Barnes has admitted that he revisits games to see how he could have given Mashack more playing time, but there is this continuing matter of better aligning his 3.5 points per game with his 15.1 minutes.
“He’s worked hard on his shot, and I keep telling him to shoot the ball,” Barnes said. “I don’t know why he doesn’t want to do that, because he’s worked hard on that this year, but he’s a tough, hard-nosed competitor who will battle anybody.
“That’s who he is.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.