Santigo Vescovi is one of Tennessee’s most experienced veterans on the Vols’ roster as the sun begins to set on his collegiate career.
The native of Montevideo, Uruguay, has played in 145 career games for the Vols, with seven SEC tournament games and six NCAA tournament games under his belt during his time on Rocky Top.
While the need for Vescovi to play the role of Tennessee’s top scorer has waned this year with the emergence of Dalton Knecht and Jonas Aidoo as scoring threats, the senior guard has seen his shooting numbers decrease during his final season in Knoxville.
After only averaging single-digit scoring during his sophomore year at Tennessee, Vescovi’s scoring total has dropped down to a career-low 6.8 points per game. That’s not to say that Tennessee needs to hit (or has been hitting) the panic button. Where Vescovi has lacked contribution in the scoring department, his all-around production as a distributor and playmaker on offense and a fix-it/hustle guy on defense has been incredibly valuable to the Vols’ roster.
Head coach Rick Barnes pointed to Vescovi’s unselfish nature as a positive for the team before the Vols’ regular-season finale against Kentucky last week.
“Well, he’s all about winning,” Barnes said about Vescovi. “I mean, nobody leads the country in more winning plays that go unnoticed than Santi. But Santi’s a very unselfish player. I mean, he understands who he is, what he needs to do. But again, from the time we started recruiting Jordan (Gainey) first and then Dalton, we knew we needed to add some offense to us. And those guys (Josiah and Santi) knew it too. And they’re really part of the reason those guys are here because as Santi and Joe have, they’ve gone out of the way to make sure that everybody comes in here, that that’s the guys that we want.”
Still, though, Tennessee is looking for more scoring production out of their starting two-guard. Vescovi has totaled 19 points over Tennessee’s last six games and has six SEC games with double-digit points. Despite a considerably more offensively talented team than they have had in the past, Tennessee’s four SEC losses this season have all involved a half in which Tennessee struggled to get any scoring going.
Tennessee scored 22 points in the first half of the Mississippi State loss, 26 first-half points in the South Carolina loss, 28 first-half points in the Texas A&M loss, and 29 first-half points in the Kentucky loss. While those don’t directly fall on Vescovi’s shoulders, it proves that Tennessee still needs as many shooters as possible.
So, with that all being said, will the postseason be the sparked fire under Vescovi that gets his scoring going?
“I certainly hope so,” Barnes said to the media on Wednesday.
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Vescovi has started all 31 of Tennessee’s games this season and is an instrumental piece to the roster. One of the late-season storylines that has come up revolves around Vescovi’s IQ both drawing up plays during a game huddle and at practice giving detailed instructions to teammates. But there’s still the scoring element to address.
“He’s done so much for us and I just want to see him go out on a great note and him playing up to his ability and what he’s capable of,” Barnes continued on to say about Vescovi’s scoring. “But I really hope so. I think that so many people are pulling for him to do that but it’s going to be up to him. He knows what he’s capable of. He’s got to believe in it and he’s got to go out and go after it.”
Barnes said on Wednesday that there are “a lot” of times when the coaching staff and his teammates will encouragingly point out missed opportunities to shoot during postgame film sessions.
“I’ve heard Zakai say it to him many times, I’ve heard Dalton say it, I’ve heard Josiah – all of them say it,” Barnes explained.
This also comes after a loss to Kentucky in which Barnes challenged star guard Dalton Knecht to involve his teammates more in the offensive system despite being Tennessee’s best scoring option. Barnes knows how important balance is at this time of the year.
While Barnes’ comments on Vescovi on Wednesday were softer with a touch of encouragement, the Tennessee head coach was much stronger in his desire for his senior guard to be more assertive after the Kentucky loss.
“He’s got to do it. He’s been here, I mean, I wish I could (get him shooting confidently),” Barnes said in his postgame press conference. “If I could it, I would. I would do it. He’s going to have to do it. He’s going to have to trust in himself and believe in how good a player he is and he’s going to have to do it. And again, if I could, I’d have him all razor-sharp every game. And the mental side of it, he’s got to do it and we need him to do it. And we need everybody, not just Santi. We need everybody to do what they can do.”
With the addition of Knecht, the emergence of Jonas Aidoo, and the return of Zakai Zeigler from ACL injury, Tennessee’s offense has been much more effective this season than at any other point during Vescovi’s time at Tennessee. The Vols are averaging 80.2 points per game this year, which is nearly a 10-point increase from their 70.8 PPG average during the 2022-2023 season and a far cry from the 67.1 PPG that Tennessee averaged during Vescovi’s first year in 2019-2020.
23-24: 80.2 PPG
22-23: 70.8 PPG
21-22: 73.5 PPG
20-21: 71.9 PPG
19-20: 67.1 PPG
But even with the extra firepower, Tennessee is looking for Vescovi to become another threat for the opposition to worry about, as he has proven to be in the past. The Vols don’t need Vescovi to be the leading scorer during tournament play, but having another shooter with his IQ and skill set who is hitting shots will give Tennessee an extra dimension of spacing, scoring, and all-around playmaking. It also might help Rick Barnes sleep a little easier at night.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee basketball coverage throughout the 2024 postseason.
