Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi totaled just five points while Dalton Knecht went for 39 points in Tennessee’s 85-66 win over Florida on Tuesday evening. Through four SEC games, neither James nor Vescovi have a double-digit scoring outing and they have combined for just 25 points.
These are two players that have been crucial pieces to strong Tennessee teams and Vescovi is a two-time All-SEC selection. That could lead to dissatisfaction or bad locker room dynamics. But not for this Tennessee team.
“Those two guys are two of the most unselfish people I’ve ever been around in my life,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said of James and Vescovi. “They don’t (care). They’re happy for him (Dalton Knecht). They get it and, believe me, they’ve embraced him because they want to win.”
Junior Zakai Zeigler is the third elder statesman on this Tennessee team. He’s playing at an extremely high level as of late but took just two shots against Florida, making both, while deferring ball handling duties to the red-hot Knecht throughout the game.
“I’m not surprised,” Barnes said of Zeigler taking just two shots. “Because Zakai’s all about winning. And I think there are teams that probably come in the game thinking we want to make Zakai do everything. … But Zakai is all about this team winning. Santi, Josiah, Jahmai, these older guys, they want a lot of it. They want to win and they want to play well, there’s no doubt about it. They want to play well, but I don’t think any of them (are selfish).”
Winning is a big reason why James and Vescovi came back for their super senior seasons. Zeigler is known best for his competitiveness on the court.
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And this Tennessee team is better than the last two because Dalton Knecht is elite offensively and Jonas Aidoo has given the Vols the interior presence they’ve been looking for. That means smaller roles for Vescovi and James but both are going to play big minutes and both players are versatile and can do multiple things well on the court.
That’s why Tennessee has remained in the top 25 throughout their tenures without the team having elite scorers for most of the stretch. It also makes it easier for them to stay effective sliding into smaller roles if they embrace it. But make no bones about it, there will be games where Tennessee needs them to step up. That’s the nature of the sport.
“There’s going to be nights where as you know, they can go off too,” Barnes said of James and Vescovi. “I mean, you go back a couple weeks ago, Josiah has been our most consistent player all year, including Dalton.”
James was having the best season of his career before his recent slow stretch to begin SEC play. Vescovi’s offensive struggles are more profound as he’s been unable to shake his surprisingly pedestrian perimeter shooting this season.
But Tennessee has the pieces to pick them up and survive without them this year. That’s nothing but a good thing as long as they embrace whatever’s best for the team.
“We’ve got an unselfish team, we really do,” Barnes said.
One Response
Coach Barnes said it best! You have to love this bunch wearing orange! The chemistry is there for everyone to see. I hope they stay healthy and make a deep run into early April.