Villanova and Duke advance to Final Four
Former Tennessee shooting guard Victor Bailey Jr. didn’t spend long in the transfer portal after entering it Sunday afternoon. The super-senior will use his final year of eligibility playing for former Tennessee assistant Kim English.
Bailey is the second Tennessee player to follow English to Fairfax, Virginia after the 33-year old took the Patriots’ job last March.
Defensive specialist Davonte Gaines transferred to George Mason soon after English got the job and the two former, and now current, teammates have interacted with each other on Twitter this morning.
Let’s work bro!!!✊🏾
— Victor Bailey Jr. (@VBailey_BallIsL) March 28, 2022
Gaines benefitted greatly from following English to George Mason, starting for the Patriots and developing his offensive game in the A10 Conference this season.
After averaging just 0.7 points per game as a sophomore in Knoxville, Gaines recorded 10.2 points and 8.1 rebounds in nearly 33 minutes a game this season.
Bailey is looking for a similar jump in production after struggling in his redshirt-senior season in Knoxville. After averaging 10.9 points on 34% shooting from three-point range as a junior, Bailey averaged just 2.6 points on 22% three-point shooting last season.
Despite seeing his minutes drop nearly 15 a game, Bailey carved out a role in the final month of Tennessee’s season by playing hard defense and attacking the offensive glass.
Despite being a senior, Bailey did not go through Senior Day festivities in Tennessee’s win over Arkansas earlier this month, opening the door for either a return to Knoxville or potential transfer gig.
“We’ve discussed everything with him,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said following the win. “He still has another year left and he’s not sure. He’ll still have options. We hope he’ll always be apart of our program, but as you know with the portal today he can choose to go somewhere else and play. Again, one way or the other, we love him. His teammates love him. … We love VJ, we love him being part of our program but he chose that he didn’t want to do it.”
Bailey posted a farewell message to Tennessee on his Instagram Saturday before entering the transfer portal Sunday.
George Mason was up-and-down in English’s first season as head coach. The Patriots’ season peaked early in the season with wins over Maryland and Georgia. However, George Mason posted losing streaks of three-games or worse three times and went 14-16 (7-9 A10) on its way to finishing ninth in the 14-team conference.
