Basketball Vols’ learn-on-the-fly freshmen now likely will include Santiago Vescovi

KNOXVILLE – Whatever Davonte Gaines initially envisioned his first year at Tennessee was going to be like, it’s been nothing similar.

The 6-foot-7 guard knew that he would have opportunities to earn playing time for the Volunteers, which makes sense: With his size he had a skill set that was unlike anyone else on the roster, which made him a potential contributor on a roster that was in dire need of them.

“Coach (Rick Barnes) told me there was an opportunity to play,” Gaines noted recently.

But then senior Lamonte Turner announced he was done for the season while dealing with thoracic outlet syndrome. Turner was the team’s primary ball-handler and its best playmaker – perhaps its only one – and his loss after a Dec. 21 win over Jacksonville State left Tennessee with just eight scholarship players, meaning it’s all hands on deck going forward.

Turner’s loss pushed Gaines into the starting lineup against Wisconsin, and while he had some solid moments, they were largely inconsistent not just for him, but for anybody wearing the home whites against the Badgers, who cruised to a 68-48 victory at Thompson-Boling Arena.

“It’s been a pretty quick turnaround as far as learning the offense,” Gaines said Saturday. “With the events that happened, we’ve got to learn a lot quicker with guys moving into bigger roles.”

Recent signee and midyear enrollee Santiago Vescovi went through his first practice with the team Monday. He immediately steps into a position of need, but what happens next will largely be up to how the 6-foot-2 guard adjusts to the style and the system – which according to Gaines may not be a quick transition.

“It took a while,” Gaines admitted when asked how quickly he adjusted. “The learning curve in itself, just coming to college where there’s a different physicality, a different pace, a different style of coaching. There’s not just one toughest part, but everything as a whole coming into college.”

But Gaines did express confidence that Vescovi would help, once he receives official NCAA clearance. The Vols (8-4) host LSU (8-4) to begin Southeastern Conference play Saturday, and the earliest Vescovi could be cleared would be Friday, a day after the NCAA eligibility center reopens. But if he wanted to get eased in and use this season as a developmental year, it appears that’s no longer an option. It hasn’t been the case for Gaines, Josiah-Jordan James, Olivia Nkamhoua and Drew Pember – all players who would have been served using this as a development year – and it probably won’t be for Vescovi now.

“What it means is guys that were expected to grow up slowly don’t get to do that now,” Barnes said Monday. “They’re going to get put out there. In the long run is it going to help us? Absolutely. I have confidence that these guys, because they have enough pride and work ethic, that we’ll figure it out.

“It’s a long way to go between now and March, and nothing that we’ve done has changed where we are in terms of our expectations, and we’re not going to change that. We expect these guys to figure this out like all teams that play with young players, but we still need our older guys to be more consistent than they have been up this point.”

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.