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Tennessee Basketball's Friday night injury report for the Alabama game

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•02/28/25•

GrantRamey

Tennessee Basketball | Andrew Ferguson, Tennessee Athletics
Head Coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Tennessee Volunteers at Reed Arena in College Station, TX. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

No news was good news for Tennessee Basketball Friday night on the SEC Injury Report. No Vols were listed on the report ahead of Saturday’s game against Alabama, other said sophomore forward JP Estrella, who is out for the season after undergoing foot surgery in November.

No. 5 Tennessee (23-5, 10-5 SEC) hosts No. 6 Alabama (23-5, 12-3) on Saturday (4 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN) at a sold-out Food City Center in Knoxville.

Alabama listed point guard and leading scorer Mark Sears as probable while Latrell Wrightsell, Derrion Reid and Houston Mallette are all out.

Junior center Felix Okpara was questionable with a left knee issue on Monday night, before Tennessee’s 65-59 win at LSU Tuesday night. 

Rick Barnes: Chaz Lanier has been ‘under the weather’ recently

Okpara was removed from the injury report on Tuesday, started and played 28 minutes against the Tigers, scoring 15 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the field while grabbing seven rebounds. 

Okpara was listed as probable before the game at Kentucky on February 11, after suffering a left ankle injury in practice the day before. He has started all 28 games this season, averaging 7.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. 

He’s averaging 9.0 points and 5.9 points over Tennessee’s last seven games, with the Vols going 6-1 over that span. 

“I think he’s just getting started,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said before practice Friday afternoon.

Senior guard Jordan Gainey was a game-time decision at LSU due to flu-like symptoms. He played a season-low 17 minutes off the bench, scoring five points on 2-for-7 shooting. 

Barnes on Friday, when asked about wanting Chaz Lanier to be more aggressive and take more shots, mentioned that Lanier has also been sick recently. 

“We’ve had some guys under the weather and he’s been one of them,” Barnes said, “but he needs to (shoot more). We need him to, he needs to and so we’ll see.”

Nate Oats: Alabama’s Grant Nelson has ‘got to get healthier’

Alabama coach Nate Oats said during his media session Friday that senior forward Grant Nelson hasn’t played as efficiently on offense lately because he’s not fully healthy. 

Nelson, the 6-foot-11, 230-pound stretch forward, is averaging 12.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 blocks in 26.2 minutes per game. He has scored just 19 points over his last three games. 

“Grant’s got to get healthier,” Oats said. “I think we’re starting to see him get healthier and get more explosive. He’s got to get downhill to the rim. 

“… We do need Grant to be a little more aggressive, a little bit more efficient in his minutes. And his turnovers, some games he has been a little inconsistent with taking care of the ball, need him take care of the ball a little better too.”

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