Tennessee’s Jarnell Stokes (5) drives as he’s defended by Connecticut’s Tyler Olander (10) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Knoxville, Tenn.KNOXVILLE – Jarnell Stokes has confidence in his basketball abilities, but the Tennessee freshman is starting to surprise even himself.
Three games and hardly two weeks into his collegiate career, he’s already invaded the starting lineup.
It’s just what the Volunteers needed, too.
Stokes scored 16 points and 12 rebounds, and UT held 13th-ranked Connecticut to 36-percent shooting in 60-57 win against the defending national champion Huskies in front of a loud crowd of 21,114 at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday evening.
“All the hard work I put in paid off,” said the 6-foot-8 Stokes, a five-star player from Memphis that enrolled this month and began practicing only 13 days ago. “No, simply no, I didn’t think I’d be starting [so soon]. It’s a surreal feeling for me to be here right now.”