Tennessee freshman big man JP Estrella is out for the Vols’ Saturday night matchup against Vanderbilt, a UT spokesperson confirmed.
Estrella is missing his third straight game with a left leg injury that’s made him a partial participant in practice. He’s day-to-day moving forward.
The freshman big man has been a reserve post player for Tennessee this season and is averaging 1.9 points and 0.9 rebounds in 4.8 minutes per game this season. Estrella had played in Tennessee’s previous six SEC games before the Texas A&M and Arkansas games in the past week.
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Estrella is Tennessee’s third big man on the roster behind both Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka. The 6-foot-11 freshman has been playing a few minutes in the first half of a number of games for Tennessee this season but with the Vols’ playing mostly small-ball lineups this season they haven’t leaned on the freshman for major minutes.
Fellow freshman big man Cade Phillips took some of Estrella’s minutes against Arkansas, coming off the bench to total six minutes and two rebounds in the win. The 6-foot-9 power forward did not play against Texas A&M last week.
Tipoff between Tennessee and Vanderbilt is at 6:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
