Rick Barnes updates the health of Santiago Vescovi (shoulder) after win over Alcorn State
The good news at Thompson-Boling Arena Sunday afternoon was Tennessee senior wing Josiah-Jordan James going through pregame warmups, on track to play after missing four straight games due to knee soreness. The bad news wasn’t far away, though. Senior guard Santiago Vescovi was in street clothes, sitting out the game against Alcorn State with a sprain in his left, shooting shoulder.
The injury was suffered late in the 76-40 win over McNeese State on Wednesday in Knoxville.
Santiago Vescovi ‘day-to-day’ with left shoulder sprain
“I would say day-to-day,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said of Vescovi after the Vols beat Alcorn 94-40 on Sunday. “We knew he wasn’t going to play today. Yesterday we knew we were going to limit Josiah to some minutes today, because he’s feeling better, obviously.”
James was limited to 14 minutes off the bench, receiving a loud ovation from the home crowd after checking in with just over 12 minutes left in the first half. He finished with four points, three assists and two rebounds.
“It was fun,” James said after the game. “I miss being out there. I guess the fans missed me being out there, too.
Vescovi did not practice on Friday at Pratt Pavilion.
Tennessee (7-1) hosts Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday (7 p.m. Eastern Time; TV: SEC Network) before going on the road for a big neutral-site game against No. 22 Maryland on Sunday in New York and an even bigger road game at No. 4 Arizona on December 17.
“Again,” Barnes said, “I think Santi would be day-to-day.”
Vescovi had 16 points in 33 minutes against McNeese State Wednesday.
He is leads Tennessee in scoring (12.0 points per game) and minutes (32.3 per game. He’s second in rebounding (5.0 per game), assists (24) and steals (18).
Vescovi was named Battle 4 Atlantis MVP after scoring 20 points and grabbing six rebounds in a 64-50 win over then-No. 3 Kansas on November 25. He scored 40 points, 15 rebounds an 10 assists over three games in the Bahamas as the Vols went through Butler, Southern Cal and Kansas to win the tournament championship.
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Without Vescovi on Sunday, got a career-high 20 points from Olivier Nkamhoua, who added six assists and four rebounds. Five-star freshman wing Julian Phillips scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half and Zakai Zeigler scored 10 points off the bench.
Sophomore wing Jahmai Mashack had a career-high 13 points and added seven rebounds and four steals in his first career start, taking Vescovi’s place in the lineup. Uros Plavsic had 12 points and four rebounds.
Tennessee had 27 assists on 33 field goals, shot 52.4 percent from the field and scored 50 points in the paint. The Vols scored 26 points off 22 Alcorn State turnovers.
Barnes said it was his team’s most complete game of the season.
“When you look at it, the fact that we assisted 27 on 33 baskets,” he said. “That’s how we’re at our best. And we were able to turn some turnovers into some baskets, obviously, that makes it easier in some ways. But that was a good defensive effort. Overall I would tell you that it was our most complete game on both ends in terms of concentration.”
