Tennessee Basketball updates the injury status of sophomore center JP Estrella
JP Estrella’s left foot injury is continuing to be evaluated and the sophomore center will not play for No. 11 Tennessee in the two games this week at the Baha Mar Championship in The Bahamas. Estrella was sidelined with the lingering foot issue in the 103-68 win over Austin Peay on Sunday.
Tennessee (4-0) faces Virginia (3-0) on Thursday night in a 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on CBS Sports Network. The Vols will face either No. 13 Baylor or No. 22 St. John’s on Friday night in the second game of the four-team tournament at Baha Mar Resort in Nassau.
Estrella did not dress for the Austin Peay game Sunday afternoon at Food City Center in Knoxville and has not practiced this week due to the foot injury that dates back to the offseason.
“It is day to day and it the same injury that he has dealt with,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said during his postgame press conference Sunday afternoon. “But again we are day to day until we can figure out a plan — a different plan, obviously. It is just day to day right now.”
The Vols will also be without sophomore wing Cam Carr, who is out 4-6 weeks with a left thumb injury suffered in the second half against Austin Peay.
Estrella, the 6-foot-11, 241-pounder from Scarborough, Maine, is averaging 4.7 points and 2.7 points rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game. He averaged 5.0 minutes off the bench while playing in 25 games as a freshman last season, averaging 1.6 points and 0.8 rebounds per game while shooting 71.4% from the floor.
Rick Barnes on JP Estrella’s injury: ‘It is concerning. We know he wants to play.’
Estrella was a four-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, ranked No. 59 nationally in the On3 Industry Ranking. He was the No. 8 center in the country and the No. 4 player in New Hampshire, where he attended Brewster Academy.
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He had eight points and a rebound in nine minutes against Montana on Wednesday night. He played 10 minutes in the win at Louisville, scoring two points and grabbing five rebounds. He had four points and two rebounds in 11 minutes in the season-opening win over Gardner-Webb on November 4.
Estrella didn’t play during Tennessee’s exhibition loss against Indiana in Knoxville on October 27.
“It is concerning,” Barnes said Sunday of Estrella’s foot injury still being a problem. “We know he wants to play. We know he has done everything he can do. I think the plan we had for him to start was the right plan. Again, they are day to day evaluating that to figure out now where do we go.”
Tennessee added two new forwards in NCAA Transfer Portal
Tennessee overhauled its front court during the offseason, bringing in 6-foot-11 center Felix Okpara from Ohio State and 6-foot-10 stretch forward Igor Milicic from Charlotte.
Milicic had 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes against Austin Peay, just days removed from an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double in Tennessee’s win over Montana last Wednesday.
Without Estrella on Sunday, Okpara had 12 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Cade Phillips had career highs with 13 points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
