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What Rick Barnes said about Tennessee signing Clarence Massamba

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•04/30/25•

GrantRamey

Clarence Massamba, Tennessee Basketball | Tennessee Athletics
Clarence Massamba, Tennessee Basketball | Tennessee Athletics

Once Rick Barnes discovered French guard Clarence Massamba, the race was on. The head coach knew he wanted to add the international prospect to his Tennessee Basketball roster.

That’s just what the Vols did on Wednesday afternoon, when Fondeur-Massamba signed with Tennessee out of AS Monaco Basket, the Monaco-based professional basketball club.

“We are happy to welcome Clarence and his family to the Tennessee basketball program,” Barnes said in a press release announcing the signing. “Once we identified Clarence as a player of interest, we immediately became excited about his impressive upside.”

Clarence Massamba: 44.6% FG, 34.1% 3FG last season

The 6-foot-5 Fondeur-Massamba averaged 9.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game during the 2024-25 international season, playing mostly for Espies Monaco, AS Monaco’s U21 team. He shot 44.6% from the field and 34.1% from the 3-point line. 

“He is a long, athletic, versatile guard,” Barnes said, “who can really attack in the open court. He is good with the ball in his hands, yet also possesses the ability to excel without it.”

Fondeur-Massamba is the second roster addition in as many days for Barnes and the Vols, who signed Louisiana Tech transfer guard Amaree Abram on Tuesday. Abram is the third addition from the NCAA Transfer Portal this spring, following Maryland point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Vanderbilt power forward Jaylen Carey.

Tennessee has signed four prep prospects in its 2025 recruiting class in five-star Nate Ament, a consensus top-five player in the class, as well as four-star guard Amari Evans, four-star center Dewayne Brown and three-star point guard Troy Henderson.

Tennessee has one open roster spot left on 2025-26 roster

Abram, a former top-100 prospect and four-star recruit who made previous stops at Ole Miss and Georgia Tech, averaged 12.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists at Louisiana Tech last season, shooting 42.2% from the field and 37.3% from the 3-point line. He averaged 32.1 minutes per game while starting all 32 games. 

Gillespie, a Greeneville, Tenn., native, started all 36 games at Maryland this season, averaging 14.7 points and 4.8 assists in 31.6 minutes per game while shooting 45.3% from the floor and 40.7% from the 3-point line. Carey, the 6-foot-8, 245-pound sophomore, averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game at Vanderbilt this season. 

Ament on moved up to No. 2 overall in the On3 Top 150 for the 2025 class, the highest-ranked recruit to sign with the Vols in the history of the Tennessee Basketball program.

The Vols have one remaining spot on the 13-scholarship roster for the 2025-26 season after the addition of Massamba.

“Clarence has a nice feel for the game and an excellent basketball IQ,” Barnes said. “He is a hard-working, driven young man who plays with a chip on his shoulder and our fans will love seeing the way he competes.”

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