Tuoyo and Upshaw in Portsmouth Invitational showcase for top seniors
Justin Tuoyo has spent his last four basketball seasons at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, focused on the team’s success.
Now it’s all about him. The 6-foot-10 Tuoyo was selected to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational, a showcase for 64 of the top college seniors in the country. Former Baylor School and Middle Tennessee State standout Reggie Upshaw also will be there.
They are believed to be the first Chattanooga-area players to participate in the event. Former Cleveland High and Tennessee standout Vincent Yarbrough supposedly was invited to the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational in 2002, but he said he never received his invitation and did not participate.
Yarbrough was a second-round draft pick of the Denver Nuggets that summer.
The players are split into eight teams, which is then split into two separate pools. The tournament starts Wednesday with two games, with three more scheduled on Thursday. The crossover doesn’t start until the tournament’s final day on Saturday.
Tuoyo was the three-time Southern Conference defensive player of the year — the only player in league history with that distincion — and finished as UTC’s all-time leader in blocked shots (270), fifth in rebounds (574) and 13th in points (1,115).
He was sixth all-time in fieldgoal shooting at 57 percent and expanded his shooting range as a
senior, making 40 percent of his 20 3-point attempts.
“I just want to show everybody
a new skill,” Tuoyo said last week. “I know I can play defense — defend, rebound — and I just want to show more offense shooting-wise and try to impress everybody there.”
Tuoyo has spent much of his free time since the 2016-17 season in the gym with UTC coaches trying to get faster, bigger and stronger. He has increased his weight to 238 pounds and hopes to add a few more pounds to his frame to “look like more of a pro player.”
“I’ve go to focus more on myself, and just better myself every day,” he said. “I’ve got to be able to handle myself against others, so when I start working out against other guys I’ll be able to hold my own.
“I want to know I can play against everybody in the country and hold my own.”
Tuoyo is on the K&D Rounds team, which plays Thursday in the second set of quarterfinals. Upshaw was placed on the Portsmouth Sports Club, which starts playing on Wednesday.
The 6-8, 227-pound Upshaw, the winningest player in MTSU history, finished his Blue Raiders career as the school leader in games played (140) and started (115). He is second all-time in minutes played (3,965), third in career steals (151) and blocks (110) and fourth in career points (1,571) and rebounds (910).
He recently played for the East team in the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star game in Phoenix, where he had eight points and two rebounds in 19 minutes in his team’s 121-90 victory.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.