As Tennessee basketball prepares for the upcoming season, assistant coach Justin Gainey met with the media.

Here's what he said about the 2025-26 campaign and the new roster.

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"It's different. It's definitely different. If you talk to all of them, I think to a man they'd probably say some of the toughest things they've been through from a day-to-day just grind of it. But they love it. That's the one thing with us through the recruiting process on everybody, we lay it out for them. To be great, to do what you're trying to do is going to be hard. It's our job to prepare you for that and get you ready. All the guys appreciate it. It's fun for them, because it's basketball, but it is a little different than I think each of them what they came from in high school or come from a different college, university."

"Same thing, it's different for them, as well. Both of those guys, Coach Morgan and Coach McClain, both of those guys have adjusted nicely, blended in nicely. It always helps to have familiarity with those guys. Coach has known both of them. It makes that transition a little bit smoother."

"It feels like that right now still since JP isn't in right now and Jaylen is kind of coming back slowly. It's still those two guys (Cade Phillips and Felix Okpara) banging around, but on paper excited about it. Excited about it. I think the best thing these last two weeks about those two guys being out, obviously we want them in, is DeWayne Brown is able to get more reps. As a freshman coming in that development is going to be huge for him, to get these reps in practice is going to be great."

"It does from the standpoint of just a coaching standpoint. For Coach Barnes is figuring out the new guys. How they learn, what makes them go, how they're going to react to adversity, what it exactly it is they do at a high level and what they need to improve in. This summer is used to find all of that out that you can. How tough are you? How are they going to react to adversity? Now, summers have become even more important to get to know your team, because you're bringing in so many new faces. The last few years, we've been lucky. We've had a core that's been intact that's been here and understands Tennessee and the culture that we've developed. Now, you're bringing in a lot of new faces that have to go through it and have to learn it."

"Leadership is in different ways. From how those guys led, Zakai and Jahmai led different than Josiah and Santi and Uros did. Those guys that you kind of see stepping up, Cade. Cade has been here and he's been through it. He's a guy that's been more vocal. Felix in his own way, his leadership is shining through his day-to-day habits and just being around the guys and making sure everybody is included. And also JP. JP has been a guy, although he's been injured and he's still working his way back, his voice has still been there and he's even louder. He's a great connector and so just brining the new guys in and showing them, just doing things together. Whether it's going to softball games, baseball games, just hanging out. Those three guys have done a great job of it, of stepping up. In spurts, you see Bishop. Although his role was limited last year, he knows what it looks like. In spurts you'll see him. I'd say Cade, JP and Felix have been the most vocal in stepping up in that role."

"Not full-time. He is working his way back. We want to be cautious with him. I'm sure if we needed right now, he could probably do it, but it's a long year. Most important thing is that he is 100% when he does come back. You see him doing some stuff on the court, some shooting, some full-go workouts a little bit, he's on the treadmill running. We feel really good about where he is right now from that recovery. And Chad and Garrett, they've both done a great job with him and helping him recover."

"I think for all of those guys, just the thing I think glaring for them is the conditioning you have to be in to do what we do. To play with intensity and force on both sides of the basketball. The intensity levels that are different from high school. I think if you asked those two guys, I think what would stand out would be the intensity and overall physical conditioning that you have to be in."

"I don't think you have to kind of tell them. They know. It's like, 'Man, coach, this is hard. This is the toughest thing I've ever done.' You talk to their coaches and their circle from back home, they say yeah man, he's saying this is tough. It's not necessarily you're having to tell them. They know it. It's the standard that we've got to get to and that's what they signed up for."

"Nate is an unbelievable kid, or young man should I say, I'm sorry. The things that stand out about him, his character is just unbelievable, off the charts. His ability to pick things up quickly, whether you tell him one time or he watches the group in front of him, he has a high basketball IQ and an attention span to where he can lock in and focus in on things and pick it up rather quickly. On the court, I'd just say his versatility. His ability to score at all three levels. His size and his length make him really unique with his skillset. It's been fun. It's been fun, but he's also a guy, too, right, that coming out of high school, the intensity and the toughness of everything, you feel the difference of it. He feels it. He'll tell you, this is the hardest thing I've ever done, but he's a guy that's determined and he loves those challenges and it just motivates him."

"He's picking it up. Again, we've only been going, this is only week three, so nobody has everything kind of figured out. But, Ja'Kobi is so naturally gifted and talented, they'll be some things that he could improvise on, he could make plays on that may break off the offense a little bit and Coach is okay with it. Putting his own twist on it, his own spin on it. He's doing great and he's picking things up quickly."

"Just hanging out with them. Probably more so the time off the court than on the court because when we don't have practice, you don't really see them a lot just because they have so many other things going on with classes and weights and all of that. Just the time before and after practice, you get to hang out with them and joke around and do all those things."

"I do think it puts a lot of pressure on Luke Schapker who sits behind the bench and he's kind of the iPad guy. It's going to ramp up the pressure and intensity on him. We haven't talked to the guys about it. We usually wait until we bring the officials in and let them kind of go over all the new rules and everything."

"It is different. It is a little different. From a parent standpoint, I was lucky the last two years because you got to see him every day. When your kids leave the house, it is weird. It is different. When they go away for college. The first two years, I kind of got used to it. The next two years when I had a chance to see him every day, you appreciate it. Now that that's not the case, it is different. I was telling my wife that the other night. I find myself calling him every night just to check in to see what's going on. It is a little different."

"Just continuing to improve. You won't be able to improve everything at once, but just fine tuning some small details on positioning and angles and just all those little details is what we're kind of focusing on with him. He's done a great job of it. He is a guy that wants to do more, wants to be able to do more down there from an offensive standpoint. He's already feel like one of the best if not the best post defenders in the country. That next piece is continuing to add to his offensive game and that's what we're looking to do this summer. Put him in different places on the court, allowing him to play for more mistakes and allow him to be more aggressive inside I think will continue to help him grow his game. And summer is the time to do that."

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