KNOXVILLE — Following the basketball journey of Tennessee senior forward Igor Milicic Jr. can be a challenge.
The 6-foot-10, 225-pounder was born in Croatia, played in Germany throughout high school, began his college career at Virginia before spending two seasons at Charlotte, and then transferred to the Volunteers. Milicic also holds Polish citizenship and was a member of Poland’s 12-man national team several months ago that was knocked out in Olympic Games qualifying.
Following him on the court these days is just as difficult.
In top-ranked Tennessee’s 76-52 thrashing of No. 23 Arkansas at the Food City Center on Saturday afternoon, Milicic packed the box score with 13 points, 18 rebounds and five assists in more than 36 minutes of action. His 18 rebounds were the most for the Vols since Jarnell Stokes had 18 during the 83-63 downing of Mercer in the round of 32 at the 2014 NCAA tournament.
“He’s got anticipation skills, obviously,” Tennessee 10th-year coach Rick Barnes said after the Vols improved to 14-0 by winning their Southeastern Conference opener. “He’s quick and has good hands, but when it gets to those 50-50 rebounds, it’s about effort. We showed a football clip the other day of a running back who got hit but had yardage after contact, and that’s what offensive rebounding is.