Tennessee Basketball updates injury status of Darlinstone Dubar for Illinois game

Tennessee Basketball’s Darlinstone Dubar is going through pregame warmups and is expected to be available for Saturday’s game at Illinois. The Vols and Illini are scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time start at State Farm Center, with the game televised by FOX.

Dubar, the fifth-year senior wing, was in concussion protocol and missed the 75-62 win over Miami on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. He returned to individual basketball activities in practice on Thursday at Pratt Pavilion.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pounder from Hofstra has played in four of the nine games this season after missing the first two weeks of the regular season due to a personal matter.

The Vols are also currently without sophomore center J.P. Estrella, who underwent season-ending foot surgery in November, and sophomore wing Cam Carr, who is out 4-6 weeks with a thumb injury.

“Cam has been really good in his rehab process and doing some court stuff,” Tennessee assistant coach Rod Clark said on Thursday, “and D-Stone has been present for everything and he’s been locked in just as much as anybody. I’m sure they’ll be back here soon. I kinda let (trainer) Chad (Newman) and ‘G’ (strength coach Garrett Medenwald) handle a lot of that stuff.”

Estrella had surgery on November 27 and Carr has been out since suffering the injury on November 17.

Dubar was the first of four NCAA Transfer Portal additions made by the Vols early in the offseason. He committed to Tennessee on April 15 out of Hofstra, where last season he averaged a career-high 17.8 points per game in 33 games, shooting 53.9% from the floor and 39.9% from the 3-point line. He also averaged 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 34.6 minutes per game. 

No. 1 Tennessee vs. Illinois: How To Watch

Start Time: Saturday, 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time

TV: FOX

Radio: WNML-FM 99.1 in Knoxville. The Vol Network radio broadcast can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee.

KenPom Prediction: Tennessee 74, Illinois 71 (61% Vols win)

The Line: Tennessee -1.5

Darlinstone Dubar has played in eight games this season

Dubar is averaging 4.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 10.8 minutes off the bench in his eight appearances this season.

He played seven minutes off the bench in Tennessee’s 96-70 win over Syracuse last week at Food City Center. He scored a season-high seven points in 13 minutes against UT Martin on November 27, had three points in 12 minutes against Baylor on November 22.

Dubar made his Tennessee debut against Virginia on November 21, scoring four points in 11 minutes off the bench.

The Vols never disclosed the details of the personal matter that kept Dubar out the first two weeks, with head coach Rick Barnes saying only that the timeline for return was up to the player. 

“Tough time for him, just personally,” Barnes said last month. “But I think he has dealt with it for a while. But we love him to death and we miss him. But it’s up to him. It’s all on his time.” 

Tennessee ranked No. 1 for third time in program history

Tennessee moved up to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll on Monday afternoon, after being ranked No. 3 in both polls last week. The Vols received 58 of 62 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 and 26 first-place votes out of 32 in the Coaches Poll.

Last week’s No. 1, Kansas, lost at Creighton and Missouri. No. 2 Auburn lost at Duke, No. 4 Kentucky lost at Clemson and No. 5 Marquette lost at Iowa State.

Tennessee is also ranked No. 1 in the NET, the quad-win metric the NCAA Tournament selection committee uses to seed the 68-team bracket, and is No. 2 in the KenPom.com ratings.