Tennessee’s Jordan Gainey is a sixth man in name only. His coach and teammates consider him a star

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — When the public address announcer turns to Tennessee’s starting lineup during pregame introductions on the road, the team stays in its huddle while the five names are read rather than have the starters step onto the court individually.

The Volunteers don’t mean to be rude. They just consider sixth man Jordan Gainey deserving of having his name called, too.

“Our motto has been ‘It’s not about me,’” coach Rick Barnes said. “So, again, we don’t go out. They stay together, work together, sweat together. Jordan, you know, he’s a starter. He’s as much a starter as anybody.”

Gainey transferred from USC Upstate in April 2023, a year after his dad, associate head coach Justin Gainey, joined Barnes’ staff. Jordan, who started 61 of his 64 games at Upstate and earned all-conference honors two years there, embraced the sixth-man role with the Vols and has thrived in it this season as the first guard off the bench.

“My teammates help me every day in practice, making sure I do what I’m supposed to do,” he said. “When it comes to game time, there’s nothing new out there. Everything seems natural, and we’re all playing team basketball.”

Related Stories

Tennessee's streak of falling short of Final Four continues as shooting woes prove insurmountable

Houston's defense carries Cougars into Final Four with 69-50 win over Tennessee

Tennessee is March Madness dancing to program-best 3rd straight Sweet 16 with 67-58 win over UCLA

Gainey was on the floor in the middle of the first half Friday night when Tennessee began imposing its will against Kentucky in a 78-65 Sweet 16 win. Shortly after he entered early in the second half, he hit a sweet step-back jumper to keep the lead at 15 points, and he helped punctuate the victory with an uncontested dunk. He finished with 16 points in 29 minutes, and his plus-10 rating was second only to Zakai Zeigler’s plus-12.

“He’s the best sixth-man in the country,” Zeigler said. “JG is a sixth starter. Every time he steps on the court, he’s like a microwave. He’s hot already.”

Gainey will be expected to play a prominent role Sunday when the second-seeded Vols meet No. 1 seed Houston in the Midwest Region final. The Vols are trying for their first Final Four.

Gainey is third on the team in scoring and minutes in the tournament, averaging 12 points and just over 29 minutes. He made three 3-pointers, scored 13 points and had all three of his assists in the second half of a 67-58 second-round win over UCLA.

Asked what he thought of his son’s play, Justin Gainey said, “You want dad or you want coach? As a coach, I think he’s been very impactful. He adds a dimension coming off the bench scoring and defending. As dad, I think he’s done a good job and I think he still has more room to grow.”

How about as a proud parent?

“It is cool,” he said, his voice cracking, “especially when you get to this time of the season, you don’t know how many more chances you’ll have. I never had a chance to coach him growing up, and I missed a lot of games when he was in high school and at college before here. The chance to be able to coach him and see him every day, just to say, “‘How ya doing?’ has been special.”

Justin said there has been no conflict with Jason being a coach’s son.

“It hasn’t always been smooth,” Justin said. “There’s been times he’s had to fight through things. If he were somewhere else, I wouldn’t see the struggle. As a parent sometimes, you hate to see your son struggle.”

Justin said he’s touched by the respect Jordan’s teammates have shown by not going out for starting lineups on the road and at neutral sites. Justin said he doesn’t know why the team goes out for introductions at home games — possibly to not disappoint the fans, he guesses.

“This team, man, it’s the most connected team I’ve ever been with,” Justin said. “They genuinely love each other. They pull for each other and cheer for each other. They all want to see each other do well. Nobody cares how many they score, how many minutes they’re playing. All they care about is winning and looking out for each other.”

___

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.