Jahmai Mashack: challenge of facing Kentucky offense 'definitely exciting'
Jahmai Mashack thrives off the kind of challenges he'll find himself up against inside Rupp Arena Saturday.
Kentucky's abundance of scorers and the pace it plays at, backed by what promises to be an unrelenting environment is a welcome challenge to the Tennessee guard and one of college basketball's top defenders.
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For Mashack, it's an opportunity to flex his defensive muscle, which has allowed him to win far more battles than he's lost over the last two years. It's why he signed up to play for Rick Barnes' program.
"Man, it's definitely exciting," Mashack said. "It's something that I look forward to. Games like these. Big games with a lot of high stakes is something that I enjoy. I think the average player kind of shies away from that. This is something that I expect, especially coming into a conference like this and having all of the teams that are good in this conference."
Kentucky is among the most productive offenses in the SEC, averaging more than 88 points per game with scoring options all over the floor.
The Wildcats have five players that are averaging double figures, headlined by guard Antonio Reeves who averages 19.5 while the team averages 48% shooting from the field and another 40% from three-point range. Both marks lead the league.
Tennessee ranks second in adjusted defensive efficiency, allowing just 90.9 points per opponents' 100 possessions according to KenPom and Mashack is the headliner.
He has given plenty of fits to some of the best scorers in the country. Two weeks ago, it was Mark Sears, the SEC's second leading scorer who managed 22 points in a 91-71 loss to the Vols but had to earn every single one against Mashack.
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"Just knowing that I'm only one guy, so I'm not going to be able to guard everybody at the same time," Mashack said. "Just kind of knowing and kind of gauging who's hot, who's off to a good start and kind of being able to switch onto that defender. That's just who I am. I just want to guard who is playing the best."
Tennessee has an offense that can score, too.
The Vols were in rare form offensively in their last outing, missing 10 shots at the rim and nearly that many at the free throw line in a rare 63-59 home loss to South Carolina on Tuesday.
Tennessee has earned more than the benefit of the doubt. An off night doesn't undo what the team has accomplished on the offensive end in the previous 19 games.
Behind Dalton Knecht, who averages 20.5 points and is seemingly matching or breaking program records every time he touches the floor, the Vols have the firepower to match Kentucky on Saturday, which will makes defensive stops loom even larger.
In a game that will pit two of the conference's best scorers against each other, Mashack has plenty of familiarity with both, having gone up against Knecht since before he signed with Tennessee late last spring while he's had a few run-ins with Reeves last season.
"I think (Knecht and Reeves) are totally different, besides that they can shoot the ball," Mashack said. "They both can shoot really well. But Reeves is less contact. He'll go around you, he'll shoot his floater a lot. He'll get to the basket at times, but he's coming off of screens, catch-and-shoot shots. He's really good in transition with stop-and-pop threes. He's not going to put it on the floor as much, he's not going to over dribble whereas (Knecht) is really like a three-level scorer. He likes to get to the mid-range, he likes to post up. He's good in ball-screens. He'll take a certain amount of dribbles to get his shot off. I think they're two different players.
"I would definitely play them differently, just trying to get into Reeves more and run him off the line and force him to play-make and make decisions off of the bounce."
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Getting Reeves out of his element could go a long way in throwing off the efficiency of Kentucky's offense overall.
Tennessee knows all too well the effect slowing down its pace can have after both Vanderbilt and South Carolina found success doing do. The Vols overcame that approach in Nashville but it proved costly against the Gamecocks a few days later.
With Mashack, Tennessee has the ability to do the same to Kentucky, though it will be easier said than done.
"I don't know if you can slow down any good scorer," Barnes said. "You've just got to hope that (Reeves) is going to have to take more shots than he need to get what he normally gets. Guys that can really score the ball, you've got to make them work as hard as you can to make them earn points knowing that you're averaging 20 points a night.
"I mean, that's tough to guard. But, you've just got to make him work for every one of them and hope that he's got to take more shots to get to that number."
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