Vols 'in a great place' to start season while adding Josiah-Jordan James
Olivier Nkamhoua couldn’t help but smile before practice Thursday afternoon at Pratt Pavilion. Tennessee basketball’s senior forward was thinking about the return of all-everything senior wing Josiah-Jordan James.
After all, the Vols handled both Michigan State and Gonzaga in an intense preseason schedule without James, who missed team drills while continuing to return from an offseason knee procedure.
“I think we’re in a great place,” Nkamhoua said. “And when Josiah comes back, he’s going to ready to go with us.”
James, according to head coach Rick Barnes, should be back when No. 11 Tennessee opens its regular-season schedule against Tennessee Tech on Monday (7 p.m. Eastern Time; SEC Network+) at Thompson-Boling Arena.
“We think so,” Barnes said of James, who went through a full practice on Thursday. “ … Likely that he’ll play. Now we’ll just have to keep building him back up to get him ready.”
After the season-opener Monday, the Vols play Colorado in a neutral-site game on November 13 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and host Florida Gulf Coast on November 16. They go to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis, facing Butler on November 23, the first of three games in three days.
Tennessee hosted Michigan State in a closed-door scrimmage on October 23 and beat No. 2 Gonzaga 99-80 in an exhibition game in Frisco, Texas, last week.
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.
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Vols working on details on defense
Barnes reeled his team back in with a tough film session on Monday, picking apart where they came up short on the defensive end against the Zags.
“We’ve got to get a lot better defensively,” Barnes said. “Details with getting our hands up, being active. Still too many blow-by’s, where we’re not containing the ball the way we need to.”
That’s where James can provide a spark. He’s as versatile defensively as he is offensively.
“Josiah has elite hands,” Barnes said. “He gets his hands on so many deflections. He’s terrific. His experience, there’s no doubt he helps us with that. He’s a fix-it kind of guy when things break down.
“He and Santi (Vescovi) and Zakai (Zeigler) are really good fix-it guys, when things don’t go exactly the way you want it. They’re able to talk-through things. They certainly do a great job coaching their teammates. They’ll fix the plays that need fixing.”
Nkamhoua knows the Vols have plenty to fix. And that they’re just getting started.
“I feel like we’re pretty ready to start the season,” he said, “but we’re not the best we’re going to be. I think there are a lot of things that we will improve on and need to improve on.
“But that will come and be seen through games that we will play and the competition that we have setup. A lot of the lessons that we learn, we’ll learn through games that we play.”
