KNOXVILLE – After a strenuous offseason of conditioning, weights and shooting, Tennessee men’s basketball returns to the Thompson-Boling Arena court Wednesday night.
Kind of.
The Volunteers will play an exhibition game against NCAA Division II member Eastern New Mexico at 7 Wednesday night. The game will be available online on the SEC Network Plus.
The Vols officially will open the season next Tuesday night at home against UNC Asheville.
Having lost four starters off last season’s team, in addition to two players transferring out of the program, the Vols have a lot of unknowns. Earlier this offseason, even coach Rick Barnes did not know what to expect.
“I don’t know if I have a grasp other than the fact that I think it’s been a fun team to be around and a fun team to coach in the fact that they’re working in the direction that we want to go,” Barnes said. “We still have a lot of young guys that are still learning the details of some things and the importance of some things, but their attitudes have been terrific and we need to get everybody as healthy as we can before we get into it.
“It’s been a fun group to be with, and I just think it’s going to be a group that’s fun to be with as the year goes on.”
The players mainly are just ready to face somebody other than each other for once. The preseason is a time for development and hard work. At some point they hit that wall, but the breath of fresh air hits Wednesday night when they can face somebody else.
“It gets repetitive,” junior guard Jalen Johnson said. “During those days, those are the days you grow and get the most out of it. I hit the wall towards the end of the summer; I was doing a lot of work and it was taxing, so the last week and a half of the summer I was feeling it.”
A lot of the Tennessee players were in Knoxville for the mini-term, so like Johnson, the summer months were the hardest. But now that they get a taste of someone else, they’re ready to go.
“I’m very excited about the whole basketball season,” junior forward John Fulkerson said recently. ” Everybody is coming to practice knowing it’s not just workouts or running. We’re actually getting ready, fine-tuning the details and getting ready for our first game.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.