Tennessee’s 6-foot-11 tandem of J.P. Estrella and Felix Okpara never materialized this basketball season, but Okpara is making sure that is anything but a total loss.
Estrella was the most physical option the Volunteers had in last season’s finale against Purdue and center Zach Edey in the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight, playing more minutes against the 7-foot-4, 300-pounder than both Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka. Aidoo and Awaka transferred out of the program following that loss, leaving Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and his staff needing to find more help down low.
Okpara, who played three seasons at Hamilton Heights after arriving in the United States from Lagos, Nigeria, in August 2018, was that answer and transferred to Knoxville following two seasons at Ohio State. The potential duo never took off because Estrella was shelved for the season after three games due to foot surgery, but Okpara continues to assert himself more and more.
In Tuesday night’s 68-56 downing of No. 14 Mississippi State inside the Food City Center, the 6-11, 235-pound junior played a season-high 32 minutes and compiled nine points, a season-high 12 rebounds and one blocked shot.
“He’s brought physicality, and we’ve lacked some of that here,” Tennessee 10th-year coach Rick Barnes said in a news conference after his No. 6 Vols improved to 17-2 overall and 4-2 in Southeastern Conference games. “We felt that with him and J.P. at the beginning of the year that we would be as physical as we’ve been in a long time, but with J.P. going down, we obviously lost a part of that. We’re still impressed with what Cade (Phillips) can do, because he’s stronger than you think, and Igor (Milicic Jr.) is stronger than you might think.