Rick Barnes updates the health of Santiago Vescovi, Josiah-Jordan James, Jonas Aidoo
Tennessee basketball will get sophomore center Jonas Aidoo back for Saturday night’s game at Arizona, head coach Rick Barnes said on Thursday. Senior shooting guard Santiago Vescovi will also be available for a second straight game, while the status of senior wing Josiah-Jordan James remains undecided.
“I think Santi and Jonas are back for certain,” Barnes said before Thursday’s practice at Pratt Pavilion. “I haven’t gotten a report today on Josiah yet.”
The sixth-ranked Vols (9-1) play at No. 9 Arizona (9-1) on Saturday (10:30 p.m. Eastern Time; TV: ESPN2) in their first true road game of the season. Aidoo missed the 56-53 Tennessee win over Maryland on Sunday in Brooklyn due to flu-like symptoms.
Vescovi, who missed the Eastern Kentucky game last week with a sprained left shooting shoulder, returned to the floor against Maryland, scoring seven points in 37 minutes, to go with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Aidoo averages 4.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 16.8 minutes per game off the bench. The 6-foot-11, 241-pound Aidoo has scored at least five points and grabbed at least four boards in each of his last five games, while also serving as the rim protector at the back of the defense.
He played 13 minutes off the bench against Eastern Kentucky, after playing 21 a week ago against Alcorn State. He averaged 24.3 minutes per game during Tennessee’s three-game run to the Battle 4 Atlantis championship two weeks ago.
Freshman power forward Tobe Awaka played 17 minutes in place of Aidoo, scoring seven points and grabbing eight rebounds, all career-high numbers.
“That’s the great thing about it,” Barnes said after the win on Sunday, “you don’t want anybody to get sick or be out, but I told our guys regardless of what we’ve got, we’ve got enough.
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“I’m really happy for Tobe. I really am. He’s a guy that what he did today is what we knew he was about. He’s a rebounder. And he’s a force. He goes and gets it.”
Josiah-Jordan James still dealing with pain in knee
James has missed five of the first 10 games this season due to knee soreness.
“Every time that he’s played,” Barnes said Monday night on Vol Calls, “it’s just pain that he has to deal with. We just want to get it right. He wants to get it right.”
James missed four straight games, including all three in the Bahamas, before returning in Tennessee’s 94-40 win over Alcorn State. Last week against Eastern Kentukcy he played 17 minutes off the bench after playing 14 against Alcorn.
Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee at No. 9 Arizona, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2
James had one point against Eastern Kentucky, going 0-for-7 from the floor and 0-for-4 from the 3-point line. When he was sidelined with the knee issue last month, he was Tennessee’s leading scorer (13.7 points per game) and rebounder (6.0).
“It’s important for him to get (healthy) more than anything,” Barnes said. “If you know Josiah, it’s killing him that he can’t get out there. He wants to be 100 percent, his teammates do. We all feel for him because we know how hard he works at it.”
