The Tennessee Volunteers have been soaring recently on the basketball court.
Jordan Gainey, however, has been slumping.
The junior guard, who transferred last spring from USC Upstate, played just 12 minutes in Saturday night’s 90-64 thrashing of Ole Miss inside the Food City Center, which matched his season low. He connected on 40.7% of his 3-point attempts during his two seasons playing in the Big South Conference, but the 6-foot-3, 186-pounder has made just 7-of-32 attempts from long range in the past eight games for a 21.9% clip.
“I definitely could be playing better,” Gainey said Tuesday in a news conference, “and I’m really just trying to get better every day. I’m watching film. I’m listening to coaches. I’m trying to break down every aspect of my game that is not going well.”
The No. 5 Vols will play their Southeastern Conference road opener Wednesday night (7 on the SEC Network) when they visit Mississippi State. Tennessee and Mississippi State have matching 11-3 records, with the Vols having won nine of the past 10 series meetings, including the past five by an average of 14.0 points.
Gainey played at least 20 minutes in each of Tennessee’s first eight contests but has reached 20 minutes once in the past six games. The son of Tennessee assistant coach Justin Gainey made 37.8% of his 3-point attempts during the first six games before going cold, and his struggles have coincided with junior point guard Zakai Zeigler heating up.
In Tennessee’s past four games, Zeigler is 14-of-33 from long range for a 42.4% success rate.
“I’m really proud of Jordan for continuing to sustain his defensive effort and being a team guy and wanting to do the right things,” Vols assistant Gregg Polinsky said. “Jordan Gainey, at some point, is going to pop out of what we would say for him is a shooting slump, because he’s a very good shooter. I’m proud of him for sustaining things and thinking about the team first.
“The rest will come for him.”
Mississippi State posted nonconference wins over the Big Ten tandem of Northwestern and Rutgers and the Pac-12 duo of Arizona State and Washington State. The Bulldogs lost at Georgia Tech in the ACC/SEC Challenge and suffered an upset loss to Southern at home, with Saturday’s league opener yielding a 68-62 setback at South Carolina.
Wednesday will mark just the third true road game of the season for the Vols, who won at Wisconsin but fell at North Carolina. It’s the seventh time Tennessee has played away from Knoxville.
“We’ve stood up pretty well,” Polinsky said. “I wish we could get rid of the first half at North Carolina, but they had a lot to do with that. This team has grown enough and is road tested, and when you get into conference play, I think the intensity level increases to where this will probably be tougher than anywhere we’ve gone.
“Mississippi State realizes the importance of this game just as much as we do.”
Instant motivation
Polinsky was asked Tuesday to assess Tennessee’s defense, and he drew a comparison to last year’s Vols and to Wednesday night’s foe.
“I don’t think we are as physical as we were last year,” he said. “I know we have this reputation for being this monstrous, physical basketball team on the defensive end, and I think we are physical, but we’re about to play a team that’s more physical defensively.
“I don’t think we’re as physical or as big as last year’s team, but I think this team has the same tenacity and commitment.”
Facing the odds
According to BetMGM, the Vols are 20/1 favorites to win this season’s national championship, which places them on equal standing with Duke, Kentucky and Michigan State.
Only six schools have better odds — Purdue (8/1), Arizona (11/1), Houston (11/1), Kansas (14/1), Connecticut (15/1) and Marquette (18/1).
Odds and ends
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has assembled a 19-5 record with the Vols against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. … Wednesday will be the 1,200th game for Barnes as a college head coach. … The Vols will be facing massive Bulldogs forward Jimmy Bell Jr., a 6-10, 280-pound graduate transfer from West Virginia who is averaging 9.1 points and 8.6 rebounds.
And in football
Tennessee finished the 2023 football season ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press poll, and the Vols are No. 17 in ESPN’s “Way-Too-Early” poll for the 2024 season.
The Vols on Tuesday landed a transfer portal commitment from Temple cornerback Jalen McMurray. The 6-foot, 180-pounder from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was a redshirt sophomore this past season for the Owls, amassing 39 tackles and earning All-AAC recognition.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.