Rick Barnes updates the status of Josiah-Jordan James (knee) for Thursday's game vs. USC

Rick Barnes knew going into No. 22 Tennessee’s game against Butler Wednesday night that his Vols would be without Josiah-Jordan James. The senior wing missed the 71-45 Tennessee win in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas due to knee soreness.

James is considered questionable for Tennessee (3-1) in the semifinal round in the tournament, with just a little over 15 hours until the Vols tip off against USC (4-1) at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday on ESPN2.

“We felt coming in (that he would be out),” Barnes said Wednesday during his postgame press conference. “We knew that he wasn’t going to be available today. We’ll wait and see. He’ll be questionable tomorrow. We’ll decide. Day to day.”

Tennessee didn’t end up needing James, the team’s leading scorer and leading rebounder through the first three games of the season, in the runaway win over Butler.

Santiago Vescovi scored all of his 13 points in the second half, sparking a 17-1 run that put the Vols in charge. Zakai Zeigler scored 10 points to go with five assists and four rebounds and five-star freshman wing Julian Phillips had 11 points with six rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes.

Jahmai Mashack had his own spark with six points while Tyreke Key and Olivier Nkahmaou scored nine each. Uros Plavsic scored seven in his return from an ankle injury.

Tennessee trailed by as many as six points in the first half, playing form behind for the first 17 minutes before closing the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 28-23 lead into halftime.

“It was a very physical first half ,” Barnes said, “and I thought the way we closed the first half was a very important part of the game. We got some great play from our bench with some key guys in foul trouble not playing the minutes they normally play. Overall a terrific team win for us.”

James missed the preseason while coming back from offseason knee surgery. He returned to the court in the season-opening win over Tennessee Tech and has played in all three games this season.

Entering Wednesday’s game, James was leading the Vols in scoring (13.7 points per game) and rebounding (6.0) while averaging 23.7 minutes per game. He scored 18 points and had six rebounds against Florida Gulf Coast last week at Thompson-Boling Arena. He had 15 points and eight rebounds in the 78-66 loss to Colorado in Nashville on November 13 and scored eight points against Tennessee Tech. 

After a slow start to his junior year, James scored in double-figures in 13 of the final 16 games last season. He led Tennessee in rebounding, at 6.0 per game, was third in scoring, at 10.3, and had 55 assists, 46 steals and 34 blocks. He played in 32 of 34 games, making 30 starts, while averaging 29.1 minutes per game, third most on the team.

James started 17 times in 25 games during his sophomore season, averaging 8.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, missing time with a finger injury. As a freshman in 2019-20, he started 26 times in 27 games, averaging 7.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, missing time with a hip issue.

James declared himself healthy during an appearance on Vol Club Confidential earlier this month.

“Ever since I got my surgery right after the season ended, really,” James said of his eagerness to return. “I couldn’t wait to come back. I went through practices a little bit throughout the summer. Got another procedure done and I’m ready to get back.”

James estimated that he had been healthy “for about a week now” leading into the opener against Tennessee Tech.

“I didn’t play in the two scrimmage and exhibition games that we had against Michigan State and Gonzaga,” he said, “just because they wanted to be as cautionary as possible. But I’m ready to go and I know the rest of the guys are, too.”