Hofstra forward transfer Darlinstone Dubar made his Tennessee basketball debut on Thursday night in the Vols’ matchup against Virginia in the Baha Mar Championship.
Dubar missed the first three games of Tennessee’s season while dealing with a “personal matter.” The 6-foot-6 forward returned to practice, mostly doing individual work, last week before being a full participant in Tennessee’s practice on Tuesday before leaving for the Bahamas.
Dubar returning against Virginia was good timing for Tennessee. Sophomore wing Cam Carr injured his left thumb in Tennessee’s win over Austin Peay on Sunday and will miss four to six weeks with the injury.
Pair that with center JP Estrella currently out and Dubar will get opportunities both at the three and four-spot while Tennessee deals with injuries.
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Dubar started his career with authority, scoring on a put back dunk on his first offensive possession in the game. The transfer went on to total four points on two-of-three shooting from the field to go along with three rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
“Really proud of him,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said postgame. “We would have played him more in the second half but they really went with four guards, so we sized down with Mashack. He gives us the versatility to do that or he would have played more in the second half. The more he gets out there, the more comfortable he gets, the better he is going to be.”
The Hofstra transfer didn’t do anything spectacular but he was very solid, playing defense and not making any dumb mistakes on the offensive end. With Tennessee’s current injury predicament, that’s exactly what the Vols need from Dubar.
Tennessee basketball is back in action on Friday night when they face Baylor in the Baha Mar Championship game. Tipoff is at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET and CBS Sports Network is broadcasting the game.
