Rick Barnes received a text early last Sunday morning.

Hours earlier, Tennessee had used a late push to beat Texas on the road and avoid its second-straight SEC road loss. Jahmai Mashack was already back in the team facilities in Knoxville.

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The Vols' senior guard had combined for 6 points in a two-game stretch that included a historically poor team shooting performance at Florida earlier in the week. The defensive game plan for both opponents were zeroed in on leading scorer Chaz Lanier, but seemed content with leaving Mashack open.

He noticed. So when Mashack got back from Texas, he continued to adjust his jump shot.

"It is hard when people decide not to guard you," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. "But he's learned. He's done it every year. He's learned how to adjust, give him credit for it."

That adjustment led to Mashack's best offensive showing of the season a few days later against Georgia.

He drove to the basket and made tough and timely shots. Mashack paid off the Vols' first possession of the second half with a score that opened the way for an offensive showcase that turned a 1-point halftime deficit into a convincing 74-56 win at Food City Center on Wednesday.

Mashack finished with a season-best 11 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field and a 3-pointer while continuing to do what he does best on the other end of the floor as undoubtedly one of the best defenders in college basketball.

"He was spectacular," Barnes said. "He was really good (on defense), which he normally is, but I thought he picked his spots well and drove it...I thought his drive was a big one early in the game because there was probably a little bit of cushion. He took the slack out."

Part of the adjustments Mashack has had to make offensively have been due in part to a hand injury he has battled for about a month, but he also notices the space around the perimeter defenders have given him when he has the ball, daring him at time to fire off a shot.

That hasn't always been the case. Georgia learned that lesson the hard way.

"It definitely gets frustrating sometimes when people think that you're not as much of an offensive player, especially in the SEC," Mashack said. "I grew up, I didn't just do defensive slides. I was a hooper. And I played outside, I played it on the play ground, I played in gyms like that and I know how to hoop."

Mashack hasn't lost confidence in his abilities as a shooter, but he hasn't compromised it if it means taking away from what he adds as a defender.

There's reason to be patient, as Zakai Zeigler and Jordan Gainey showed with their scoring bursts against Georgia. Gainey finished with a game-high 19 points and Zeigler put together one of the most prolific seven-minute scoring stretches in program history that pulled Tennessee away for good.

"I'm a cerebral player," Mashack said. "I know I've got guys like Zakai (Zeigler). I know I've got guys like Chaz (Lanier). I know I've got guys like (Jordan Gainey). College isn't the NBA and we don't have as many possession to do that. We're in close games every single game. So, me trying to go in an prove that I'm a really good offensive player isn't going to do us justice...You want the best percentage shot possible. That's something that I've been wanting to do since I've been here and something that I've been trying to do.

"And there are some possessions where I need to be more aggressive offensively, but for me, it's setting guys up. And if we can get the whole team on that same kind of thing, we'll be even better."

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