It certainly can be argued that 2024 has been the most successful year of Tennessee basketball.
The Volunteers won last season’s Southeastern Conference championship behind league player of the year Dalton Knecht, and they reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, matching the program’s deepest advancement in the March extravaganza. This season, Tennessee has raced out to a 12-0 start for the first time in more than a century and has been ranked No. 1 four consecutive weeks.
“I think it’s the way our coaches recruit,” Vols senior forward and Charlotte transfer Igor Milicic Jr. said Monday in a news conference. “They want guys who are easy going and are going to get along with each other. The chemistry is the best I’ve ever had, and with so many new guys, that’s pretty much unheard of.”
Tennessee will finish out 2024 with a Tuesday afternoon (3 on SEC Network+) game against Norfolk State inside the Food City Center.
The Vols began this season using 11 of their 13 available scholarships but will dress eight players against the Spartans (9-6) of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Sophomore forward J.P. Estrella had to undergo season-ending foot surgery after just three games, while sophomore guard Cameron Carr surprisingly left the team last week.
Freshman guard Bishop Boswell has a shoulder injury that is preventing him from practicing, which has left a healthy eight comprised by a split of returning Vols – senior guards Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack and Jordan Gainey, and sophomore forward Cade Phillips – and newcomers via the transfer route – Milicic, fifth-year senior guards Chaz Lanier (North Florida) and Darlinstone Dubar (Hofstra), and junior forward Felix Okpara (Ohio State).
“We’re not worried about it at all,” Vols associate head coach Justin Gainey, Jordan’s father, said Monday. “We feel like everybody on our roster can come in and contribute in some fashion. We’re at nine, and we feel like all nine of those guys can come in and play. They’ve shown that they can.”
Gainey did not have a timetable for when Boswell could resume practices.
The close of 2024 also means the opening of the 2025 SEC schedule is rapidly approaching. The Vols host an Arkansas team on Saturday that is coached by John Calipari and possesses former Vols forward Jonas Aidoo, who tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds when the Razorbacks last played against North Carolina A&T on Dec. 21.
“We’re not looking ahead,” Gainey said. “SEC play is right around the corner, but we’ve got business to take care of. We’ve got to use this game to get better.”
This is the biggest gap of Tennessee’s 2024-25 schedule, with the Vols having last played last Monday, when they pulled away for an 82-64 dumping of Middle Tennessee. The Vols trailed 40-34 at halftime and didn’t lead for good until 12 minutes remained.
Following that contest, Tennessee players had four days off for Christmas break.
“Heading into that Middle Tennessee State game, you always have a little anxiety just because everybody is kind of looking ahead to Christmas, whether that’s last-minute shopping or last-minute travel plans,” Gainey said. “You worry about where their heads are mentally, so the biggest anxiety comes there. Our guys went home, and then we got them back and worked the last couple of days.”
Said Milicic: “We’re just trying to stay focused on ourselves and to be the best version of ourselves and to win our games the way we want to play.”
That seemed to work out really well for Tennessee in 2024, whether that was the end of Rick Barnes’ ninth season or the beginning of his 10th. Norfolk State will be the fifth foe Tennessee has faced while being ranked atop the country.
“It’s a credit to Coach Barnes and what he’s built and the success they’ve had,” said Gainey, who is in his fourth season on Tennessee’s staff. “Since I’ve been here, every game we play and every arena we go to seems to be charged up a little bit more compared to when I watch it on film. For this group, I think it’s good to feel that early in the season, because we’ve got so many new guys and so many guys who haven’t experienced that feeling.”
‘Ernie & Bernie’
Tuesday will mark the 50-year anniversary of the “Ernie & Bernie Show” debut for Tennessee.
On Dec. 31, 1974, Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld played for the first time together in a 115-66 hammering of Vermont in Knoxville. King racked up 40 points, while Grunfeld added 16.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.