Santiago Vescovi will 'keep every door open' when he decides his basketball future

Add Santiago Vescovi to the list of Tennessee seniors who has not yet made a decision about what’s next in his basketball future. The senior shooting guard, who has a fifth year of eligibility remaining dating back to the COVID season, was asked before practice Tuesday if he had made any decisions on turning pro or returning to the Vols.

“No, I haven’t thought about it yet,” Vescovi said. “Keep every door open, but I haven’t thought about it.”

Student-athletes that played during the COVID season in 2021-22 were granted a free year of eligibility. Tennessee’s four scholarship seniors — Vescovi, wing Josiah-Jordan James, forward Olivier Nkamhoua and center Uros Plavsic — all have a year of eligibility remaining. Graduate-transfer guard Tyreke Key will be out of eligibility at season’s end.

All five players went through the Senior Night ceremony before Tennessee beat Arkansas 75-57 at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 28. 

James was asked about his future two weeks ago, saying that he too would leave his options open.

“I’m not shutting that door on the potential of coming back for a fifth year next year,” James said Wednesday during a speaking engagement at the Big Orange Tip-Off Club in Knoxville. “But after the season, I’ll go do pre-draft workouts. I wasn’t able to do it last year because I had to have knee surgery, just a small scope, that actually lingered to the beginning of this year.”

Santiago Vescovi averaging 12.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists in 32.9 minutes per game this season

Players can go through the NBA’s pre-draft process — meeting with NBA personnel for workouts and interviews — and get feedback while retaining their collegiate eligibility. James said that is something he plans to take advantage of this spring.

“Hopefully, barring any setbacks, I’ll be able to compete in the NBA Combine,” James said last month, “go do team workouts, individual workouts for teams. So I’m really looking forward to that, getting feedback. 

“And if a team is high on me and they want to draft me, and I think I can do it, I’ll probably take that next step and try to play in the NBA.”

Vescovi joined Tennessee midseason in 2019-20, was starting for the Vols a week after arriving on campus and has been a staple in the lineup ever since. He’s averaged 11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists over 109 games. He hit 102 3-point shots last season, becoming only the second Tennessee player to do so, joining Chris Lofton. 

This season Vescovi is averaging a team-high 12.7 points per game, to go with 4.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists in a career-high 32.9 minutes per game. He’s started 105 of his 109 career games and this season is shooing g 40.2 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from the 3-point line.

Up Next: SEC Tournament, March 8-12, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said before Senior Night against Arkansas that conversations about what’s next for his seniors will be held when the season is over. 

“There will come a time for that,” Barnes said. “There will be. Right now, I don’t think, and again I’ve said to you before, this team has been resilient. This team has shown some real maturity in some difficult times when it’s tough obviously. 

“The fact is there’s a time for all that and right now the time is that we still have basketball games to play here over the next couple weeks and we hope we can string it out as long as we can.”

No. 17 Tennessee (22-9), a No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament, will face either No. 12 South Carolina (11-20) or No. 13 Ole Miss (11-20) on Thursday (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network) at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with the winner advancing to face fourth-seeded Missouri (23-8) in the quarterfinal round off Friday.

“I think what those guys want to do right now is win,” Barnes said of his senior class. “They understand this time of year because they’ve been through it more than anybody, these next couple weeks, how important they are and how it’s such a fine line between winning and losing, but I don’t think their thoughts are anywhere besides trying to make this basketball team the best it can be with what we have left.”