Rick Barnes: Josiah-Jordan James 'working his way back in' for Tennessee basketball
Tennessee senior wing Josiah-Jordan James went through a full pregame routine alongside his teammates before the Vols won 63-59 at Ole Miss on Wednesday. It was seemingly a show progress while dealing with the knee soreness that has kept him out of eight of the first 13 games of the season.
Rick Barnes confirmed as much during his media availability before practice on Monday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
“He is doing better,” Barnes said. “He is starting to work his way back in. We will see what that leads to, but he is working his way back in.”
The Vols (11-2, 1-0 SEC) host Mississippi State (11-2, 0-1) on Tuesday, a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN2 in their SEC home opener.
James dressed for the Ole Miss game after going through the full pregame work, but did not play in the game. Barnes said last week that the Vols were still waiting on him to return to five-on-five work in practice.
“He’s doing a little bit more with Chad and Garrett,” Barnes said, referencing team trainer Chad Newman and strength coach Garrett Medenwald, “but with us, he’ll warm up with us a little bit, but he hasn’t gotten in on five-on-five stuff yet.”
James, who had his knee scoped in the spring and had three injections done in October, played the first three games of the regular season, then missed four straight games. He returned for two games, but is missing his fourth straight game since then.
He last played in Tennessee’s 84-49 win over Eastern Kentucky on December 7. It was his second straight game, after returning from four straight games missed to play against Alcorn State, a 94-40 Tennessee win on December 4.
James played 17 minutes off the bench against EKU after playing 14 against Alcorn.
James, who underwent a knee scope in the spring, played the first three games of the regular season before missing the next four. He enters Tuesday having missed four straight games.
Tennessee vs. Mississippi State: How to watch, stream, listen
Tipoff Time: 7 p.m. ET, Tuesday
Location: Thompson-Boling Arena
TV: ESPN2
Streaming: ESPN App or WatchESPN.com
Radio: WNML-FM 99.1 in Knoxville. The Vol Network radio broadcast (Bob Kesling – play-by-play – Bert Bertelkamp, analyst) can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee.
Up Next: No. 7 Tennessee vs. Mississippi State, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU
After hosting Mississippi State on Wednesday, the remaining January SEC schedule for Tennessee includes home games against Vanderbilt (January 10), Kentucky (January 14) and Georgia (January 25). The Vols play at South Carolina (January 7), at Mississippi State (January 17) at LSU (January 21).
Texas, the final non-conference game on schedule, will be played January 28 at Thompson-Boling Arena in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.
