NASHVILLE — Rod Clark dipped into his Kansas City Chiefs fandom Friday.

The Tennessee basketball assistant coach pulled up a video of former Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed yelling as he guarded a wide receiver, expressing himself after he felt snubbed of 2024 postseason honors.

Clark sent the video to Jahmai Mashack, who related to the emotion.

“It was a fire that he had,” Mashack said. “He felt like he was disrespected kind of the way I am defensively. I want to be able to show everyone what I can do.”

Clark threw gasoline on the competitive fire in Mashack and Mashack burned the Longhorns at Bridgestone Arena. 

The senior guard clamped down on Texas star guard Tre Johnson, holding the high-scoring freshman to 11 points as No. 4 seed Tennessee (26-6) beat No. 13 Texas 83-72 to advance to the SEC tournament semifinals against No. 1 seed Auburn (28-4) on Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN). 

Why Jahmai Mashack coveted opportunity to face Texas, Tre Johnson

Mashack was rooting for Texas (19-15) against Texas A&M on Thursday. Ask anyone in the Vols locker room, he said. He wanted this matchup and got what he wanted when the Longhorns won 94-89 in double overtime.

“I was cheering for Texas because I wanted the chance to guard Tre Johnson again,” Mashack said. “I love going against individuals that are great scorers.” 

Johnson scored 27 points in Tennessee’s 74-70 win at Texas on Jan. 11 when Mashack was hampered by foul trouble. He played 21 minutes.

Mashack craved a different story Friday. 

“He didn’t say too many words,” Tennessee senior guard Zakai Zeigler guard. “I could see it in his face and his eyes that he was super excited for this matchup. Shack went out there and guarded him.”

Mashack turned in a classic performance — and then some. He outscored Johnson. He had 13 points and seven rebounds.

With Mashack as his primary obstacle, Johnson entered averaging 20.1 points on 16.2 field-goal attempts. He had 11 points on 3-for-8 shooting. He was held to 11 of fewer points for the fifth time in 31 games. He attempted his second-fewest field goals in a game and his three 3-point attempts matched his season-low.

“The shots he made, all of them were tough,” Vols associate head coach Justin Gainey said.

Jahmai Mashack: ‘What I do can’t be replicated’

Mashack is a master at knowing an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses offensively.

Sitting in the corner of Tennessee’s locker room, Mashack recited Johnson’s scouting report. He doesn’t overcomplicate his game and won’t force shots. He gets to his spots without wasting movements with the ball. His release point makes him a tough guard. 

Mashack took it all away.

“I really wanted to show why I am so important defensively,” Mashack said. “What I do can’t be replicated. I put in the work. I watch film. I look at shot charts. I look at guys’ hand movements — I look at bad games and good games.”

FELIX: How Felix Okpara escaped international basketball’s ‘dark side’ — and found family in Tennessee

Mashack had something to prove against Texas. He was proud that Zeigler won SEC defensive player of the year for the second time. Likewise, he wanted the award and balanced his love for Zeigler and pride in his game.

The latter showed against Johnson.

Mashack is in the elite class of defenders in college basketball — a widely known truth around Tennessee in the SEC. He still holds that he has to earn his position in that conversation, which built his desire to face Johnson and lay claim to his standing again.

“I always feel like I am slighted,” Mashack said. “What I do isn’t glorified. It is not going to be. … It is the sacrifice I decided to make in order to be great in this basketball game.”

He was undoubtedly great in this basketball game.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

On Friday, all of DFW will be in the zone for critical fire danger. In North Texas, crews that were deployed to help with the historic Los Angeles fires are drawing from their experience there.

The Krum Fire Department in Denton County deployed two firefighters for more than two weeks to assist with the Palisades and Eaton fires in L.A. While the landscape in North Texas is different, officials say one lesson stands out: high winds can change everything in an instant.

Krum Fire Captain Hector Hernandez was on the ground for 18 days. What he witnessed will stay with him for some time.

“Kind of seeing fire behavior coming off the Pacific like that, interesting just seeing the kind of damage it can do in such a short amount of time,” he said.

Hernandez especially remembers how the Los Angeles fires were fueled by dry conditions and very strong winds.

“The more wind we get, the more favorable it’s going to be for fire conditions. So that little spark you have from your welder can take off into a grass fire in no time,” he said. “Once it finds what it likes in terms of fuel, wind conditions, humidity, there’s not a lot we can do on the ground to stop it.”

Michelle Mendoza knows all too well how quickly life can change from shifting winds. She lived with her husband and eight children in Altadena when the fires broke out.

“I think it took probably about six hours, and then my house was completely destroyed,” she said.

The family of 10 is now in neighboring Pasadena, crammed into a one-bedroom apartment. Mendoza also remembers how powerful the winds were just hours before the fires spread, and she had this message for North Texas.

“It was very windy. It was some branches all over the place,” Mendoza said. “The winds were traveling really far. So, it’s something not to be played with. So, if you do see the winds, try to be really on alert.”

Hernandez said he’s hoping for the best, but Krum and neighboring departments are prepared.

“You kind of look at the direction that the fire is burning in and try to find any natural barriers, whether it’s a body of water, roadways, major highways, see if that’s a major point to stop it at,” he said.

Hernandez said if natural barriers don’t work, the next step would be getting ahead of the fire and starting to dig dozer lines.

Old friends Texas (18-14, 7-12) and Texas A&M (22-9, 11-7) square off on the hardwood this afternoon in the second round of the SEC Tournament.

The Longhorns surprised Vanderbilt in the opening round yesterday winning 79-72. Texas jumped the Commodores early leading 41-26 at the half. Tre Johnson and Tramon Mark each scored 19 points in the win for Texas.

The Aggies last laced up their shoes on Saturday handling LSU, 66-52. It was their second straight win after four consecutive losses.

These teams split the season series with each school defending their home court. Texas won in their most recent meeting, 70-69.

Lets dive into the matchup and offer some information and possibly a sweat or two.

We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch the opening tip, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.

Game details & how to watch Texas vs. Texas A&M

• Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
• Time: 3:30PM EST
• Site: Bridgestone Arena
• City: Nashville, TN
• Network/Streaming: SEC Network

Never miss a second of the action and stay up to date with all the latest scores and player news. Check out our day-by-day NCAA Basketball Schedule Page that includes live game updates.

Game odds for Texas vs. Texas A&M

The latest odds as of Thursday courtesy of BetMGM:

• Odds: Texas Longhorns (+220), Texas A&M Aggies (-275)
• Spread: Aggies -6.5

• Total: 138.5 points

Expert picks & predictions for Texas vs. Texas A&M

NBC Sports Bet Best Bet

Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NCAA calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, injuries, and the schedule.

Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.

Here are the best bets our model is projecting for today’s Longhorns vs. Aggies game:

• Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on Texas A&M on the Moneyline.
• Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on Texas A&M -6.5.
• Total: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Game Total of 138.5.

Texas vs. Texas A&M: Top betting trends and recent stats

• Texas is just 2-8 against the spread in their last 10 games (14-16-1 for the season)
• Texas is 9-1 to the OVER in their last 10 games
• Texas A&M is 5-5 ATS in their last 10 games (16-13-2 for the season)
• Texas A&M is 5-5 to the OVER in their last 10 games

If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our NCAA Basketball Top Trends Tool on NBCSports.com!

Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.

Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:

· Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)

· Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper)

· Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)

· Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)