Tennessee freshman big man JP Estrella is active for the Vols’ Tuesday night matchup at Missouri, a UT Spokesperson confirmed. Estrella had missed each of Tennessee’s last three games with a left leg injury.
Estrella is a reserve big man for Tennessee who has played in six SEC games this season. Over the course of the season, the 6-foot-11 freshman is averaging 1.9 points and 0.9 rebounds in 4.8 minutes per game.
Tennessee has played much smaller lineups this season, frequently using four perimeter players and one big man on the floor at one time. Junior Jonas Aidoo is Tennessee’s top five-man followed by sophomore Tobe Awaka.
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But Estrella has earned a role as Tennessee’s third big man during his freshman season in Knoxville and was playing well before suffering the injury.
Fellow freshman Cade Phillips earned minutes in Estrella’s place against both Vanderbilt and Arkansas but didn’t play in the Vols’ loss at Texas A&M.
Missouri enters Tuesday night’s matchup in Columbia winless in conference play and in the midst of an extremely disappointing season for second-year head coach Dennis Gates. The Vols are looking for revenge for last season’s two losses against the Tigers and to stay in the thick of the SEC Championship race.
Tipoff at Mizzou Arena is at 7 p.m. ET. Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw are on the call for the SEC Network.
