The Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball team features 18 players, including 12 scholarship players that combined have a total of 503 games played and 295 starts.
Tennessee’s senior guards Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi jump into the 2022-2023 season on the brink of their 1,000-point milestones. Vescovi, the 6-foot-3 2022 All-SEC First Team selectee, needs a mere 96 points to reach 1,000 total points in his four-year career in Knoxville.
James, the 6-foot-6 small forward and member of the 2022 SEC Championship team, enters the season 271 points shy of 1,000 career points. Fifty-three Vols have reached this crucial milestone throughout their career on Rocky Top, including Grant Williams, Jordan Bowen and John Fulkerson just to name a few. James has averaged 8.7 points per game and 6.8 rebounds throughout his Tennessee career.
Vescovi averaged 11.2 points per game and is one of two vols to ever make 100 plus threes in a single season in Tennessee history.
Zakai Ziegler returns for his second season in Tennessee having been a major impact player in the 2021-2022 season. The 5-foot-9 guard ranked second on his team in steals (1.7 spg), third in assists (2.7 apg) and fourth in scoring (8.8 ppg) earning him an eventual selection on both the 2022 SEC All-Defensive Team and SEC All-Freshman Team. Zeigler averaged 10.1 points during conference play and was nearly perfect at the free throw line shooting 0.866%.
Ziegler has been a major defensive weapon for the Volunteers finishing the regular season just one steal shy of the SEC lead during conference play, averaging 2.2 takeaways per game and boasting 40 steals in 18 SEC games. The explosive guard won over the hearts of Tennessee fans last season and is set to have a much bigger role coming off the bench in his second season.
The transfer portal welcomes new players and talents to Knoxville every year, and Indiana State transfer guard Tyreke Key is no exception. After undergoing a shoulder surgery that kept Key sidelined for the entirety of last season, the impactful 3-point shooter looked sharper than ever in the Vols exhibition game.
The Tennessee native had a bold start in his UT career boasting a game-high 26 points in last Friday’s win over Gonzaga shooting 8-for-12 from the field with four 3-pointers. The tangible transfer is a vital team player as well with an assist rate of 10.5 percent as a junior booming to 14.7 percent as a senior. The 6-foot-2 guard is going to play a vital role in the Vols’ offense this season as a scorer and as a leader due to questions surrounding the point guard position.
Freshman wing Julian Phillips may be one of the best five-stars brought in under Rick Barnes. Phillips chose Tennessee over Auburn after withdrawing his commitment to LSU after the firing of Will Wade.
The 6-foot-8 newcomer has been demanding attention with his dedicated work ethic and contribution on both sides of the court. Phillips found himself on Tennessee’s starting lineup in the exhibition game against Gonzaga and scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting going 3-for-3 from the 3-point range.
The two other freshman guards coming into Tennessee’s backcourt are BJ Edwards and DJ Jefferson.
Edwards is a Knoxville favorite hailing from Knoxville Catholic and ranking as the 16th-best point guard and third-best player in the state of Tennessee. The 6-foot-3 point guard played 116 games and four varsity seasons for Knox Catholic scoring 2,240 total points. Edwards averaged 7.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 steals while shooting 52% from the field and 33% from 3-point range.
Jefferson was a late addition for the Vols after initially committing to Tulsa in November of 2021 but releasing and reopening his recruitment due to a coaching change. The 6-foot-5 small forward turned heads after an impressive run at the Iverson Classic in Memphis in April 2022 coming off of his senior season at Minnesota Prep where he averaged 16.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists and 3.0 steals per game.
Neither Edwards or Jefferson are expected to see significant playing time in the beginning of the season.
