May I Shack?
Image: on3.com
By Jonathan Reed
It was one of the prettiest basketball plays of the season. Something so simple, but yet so satisfying.
Felix Okpara comes to the top of the key, just like he did countless other times in the second half of Tennessee’s come-from-behind victory over in-state rival Vanderbilt, except this time he switches sides at the last minute. Zakai, who dominated the second half scoring all 22 of his points, twists his defender to the ground into a “left hand red, right leg green” position with a last second crossover. ZZ hesitates, seemingly waiting on Okpara to roll, which sucks Tyler Nickel into the paint, like a maestro building anticipation as the music builds before kicking a perfect pass to the corner to a wide open Jahmai Mashack, who without hesitation, rises up and splashes a dagger three.
Crescendo.
Perfection.
Relief.
At the moment that Mashack’s shot splashed in, you felt like Tennessee had the proper distance to complete their biggest comeback since a trip to Lexington in March of 2020. The Vols three-point defense didn’t make it easy on themselves in the final minute, but they got to the finish line thanks to some clutch plays by Zeigler.
ZZ was the unquestioned star of the show. It took Rick Barnes pushing his buttons at halftime and an early second half technical foul after a dust up with Jaylen Carey, but, once he got going, Zakai was like a runaway training barreling down the track as he repeatedly picked apart Vandy with a combination of shooting, passing, and driving into the paint.
Chaz Lanier poured in an important 21 points of his own, surprisingly only needing two three-pointers to do it. Lanier was decisive in attacking the rim or getting into the mid-range and was the scoring sidekick that his point guard needed to avoid a disastrous-for-seeding-and-vibes loss.
But Jahmai Mashack’s 9 points, including the shot to give Tennessee a two-possession lead back, were much needed. And they’ll be necessary if The Vols are going to be in the mix in late March.
At times it has felt like the Big Orange were having to play 4-on-5 on offense when Mashack has been on the floor timidly passing up open looks or refusing to put the ball on the floor. It kills the offense’s flow and spacing and allows his defender to play free safety and make life tougher for his teammates by roaming into passing lanes or clogging up the paint deterring drives to the rim from other Volunteers.
It's led for many Tennessee fans to call for his benching and for Rick Barnes to turn to a lineup with Jordan Gainey in his place to get the starting and crunch time minutes. Many people cite the spacing and shooting that Gainey provides the offense. He’s a capable defender, but he’s not in the same stratosphere as Mashack on that end of the floor. It’s all about the offense and how the defense has to respect him.
And it makes sense. In conference play, one guy is shooting 42.9% while the other is shooting an abysmal 23.6% from deep.
Wait… Gainey is the one shooting Kobe numbers while Mashack is hitting damn near 43% of his looks from downtown????????
HUH?
There is some truth to a couple of cliches: perception is reality, you can make statistics say whatever you need them to, you can’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game, and it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved before you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
It’s not really about the percentages. It’s about being a threat. Gainey has hit 13 of his 55 three-point attempts; Mashack has hit only 6 of his very limited 14 attempts. This tells us a couple of things. Gainey should be in line for some three point variance to his way as he hopefully progresses to the mean in conference play. Mashack needs to shoot more threes, especially from the corners.
While understanding correlation does not always equal causation, I present these numbers when it comes to Mashack scoring just 8 points. Tennessee is 7-0 this season and 18-5 in his career. That’s it. Eight points. That’s only a couple of free throws, one three, and like a layup or two.
It doesn’t have to be all three point shots. He can and should be more aggressive at driving with the ball, cutting to the basket without it, and crashing the offensive glass when his defender loses sight of him.
There are multiple ways to skin a cat. If he can confidently be the Swiss army knife that Tennessee needs him to be, the Vols can make a deep run this season.