Tennessee freshman point guard Santiago Vescovi joined the Vols midway through this season as a mid-year enrollee from overseas. Vescovi played at the NBA Global Academy in Australia before coming to UT, but he’s originally from Montevideo, Uruguay.
Vescovi’s home is an over 13-hour flight to Knoxville, and his family had never been to Thompson-Boling Arena to see him play. That changed on Saturday.
Before Tennessee’s contest with the Florida Gators, the official Tennessee basketball Twitter account tweeted out a video of Vescovi’s parents and sister surprising him with their first-ever visit to Knoxville. Vescovi had no idea his family was going to be in town, and he was under the assumption that he was on camera doing an interview for UT’s media team.
Montevideo ✈️ Knoxville
Special surprise for Santi at shootaround … la familia is in the building!
Help us welcome Pablo, Laura and Lucía to Rocky Top for the first time! pic.twitter.com/MepGiGyKqN
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 29, 2020
Vescovi’s family got to see the Vols win in their first trip to Knoxville, as Tennessee managed to hang on for a 63-58 victory over the Gators. The freshman point guard performed well in front of his family, totaling 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting while also adding four assists, a rebound, and a block in 34 minutes of play.
After the game, both Vescovi and his family spoke with the media about the surprise visit and what all went into his family getting to Knoxville. Vescovi also talked about his play and the Vols’ win over the Gators.
Here’s everything Vescovi and his family had to say after Saturday’s game:
