Rick Barnes weighs in on what he's seen so far from his new-look Tennessee Basketball team
Back in April, less than two weeks removed from a run to the Elite Eight, Rick Barnes found himself with seven open roster spots on his Tennessee Basketball roster.
Redshirt freshmen Freddie Dilione V and DJ Jefferson started the NCAA Transfer Portal exodus, followed by sophomore power forward Tobe Awaka and junior center Jonas Aidoo.
A month later, Barnes and his staff had four of their own transfers arriving on campus, restocking with Hofstra wing Darlinstone Dubar, Charlotte forward Igor Milicic Jr., Ohio State center Felix Okpara and North Florida guard Chaz Lanier.
Tennessee Basketball returns mix of veterans, additions from transfer portal
Barnes last week described how his program’s culture — and veterans like rising seniors Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack, along with others — have helped the new-look Vols have a seamless transition.
“Our older guys, I think, have done a really good job of coaching our younger guys,” Barnes said, “guys that we’ve got coming back. The young guys have a better feel for what’s going on.”
Lanier was the final addition and the headliner of the transfer class after he averaged 19.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 33.4 minutes per game at North Florida last season, shooting 51.0% from the field and 44.0% from the 3-point line.
Dubar averaged a career-high 17.8 points per game in 33 games last season, 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.
Okpara averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks this season and averaged 5.3 points and 5.0 rebounds over the last two years. Milcic averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds at Charlotte last season, shooting 48.7% from the field and 37.6% from the 3-point line.
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Rick Barnes: ‘We’re really excited about what we have’
Tennessee also welcome four-star point guard Bishop Boswell, the lone prep prospect who was ranked No. 75 overall in the On3 Industry Comparison in the 2024 class.
“They’ve all improved and certainly the guys that are new are learning still,” Barnes said, “but (they have) been great teammates. Very humble, wanting to learn, knowing they’ve got to pick things up quickly. And we’re all excited about what we’ve done up to this point.
“(Thursday) was the first real day that we really went up and down the floor a little bit. But we get back here after (July) fourth. We’ll take it up and notch.”
“We really are excited about what we have. And some guys have made surprised us a little bit, everyone that we’ve gotten.”
Asked about the importance of the summer work in the transfer portal era, Barnes emphasized the focus on individual improvement before the focus turns to more team-oriented prep in the fall.
“Right now as a coaching staff,” Barnes said, “we really put so much emphasis on each individual guy in terms of trying to get that person to understand how we see him right now to keep building roles and keep getting guys to understand what they need to do to take the next step to get better and help our team.”
