‘Transition class’ for Vols could be playing Knoxville finale
“I’ll have basketball memories, but my biggest memories will be the people I met here and worked with throughout my four years here and the relationships I made. They are friendships I will never forget.”
– UROS PLAVSIC
Tennessee will play for the final time this season inside ThompsonBoling Arena on Tuesday night when the No. 12 Volunteers host Arkansas.
There are five scholarship seniors on the Tennessee roster, which could lead to a wide array of pregame emotions.
“I’ll be thinking about it a lot,” 7-foot-1 forward and former Hamilton Heights standout Uros Plavsic told reporters Monday afternoon. “I’ll have basketball memories, but my biggest memories will be the people I met here and worked with throughout my four years here and the relationships I’ve made. They are friendships I will never forget.
“I’ll be so excited to just come back here one day and be a fan.”
Tuesday’s Southeastern Conference showdown between the Vols (21-8, 10-6) and Razorbacks (19-10, 8-8) tips at 9 and will be televised by ESPN2.
Plavsic, forward Olivier Nkamhoua, and guards Josiah-Jordan James, Santiago Vescovi and Tyreke Key comprise Tennessee’s senior quintet. Key is a graduate transfer from Indiana State who used the NCAA’s extra year that was implemented after the coronavirus outbreak, but the other four still have that avenue and could return in several months for their second senior seasons.
“What those guys want to do right now is win,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said. “I think they understand this time of year, because they’ve been through it. They know how important these next couple of weeks are and how there is such a fine line between winning and losing. I don’t think their thoughts are anywhere except trying to make this basketball team the best it can be with what we have left.
“There will come a time for all that. We’ve still got basketball left, and we hope to string it out as long as we can.”
James, Nkamhoua, Plavsic and Vescovi have been together since the 2019-20 season, when Tennessee had to rebuild following the 2018-19 Vols, who went 31-6 and reached No. 1 during that season but lost the talented likes of Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield, Kyle Alexander and Jordan Bone.
They came from all parts of the globe — Nkamhoua from Finland, Plavsic from Serbia and Vescovi from Uruguay — and formed a nucleus that would help deliver NCAA tournament trips the past two seasons with a third one on the way.
“It was a transition class, because the class that came in before really got the program going and did a great job of buidling the culture and the foundation of what we wanted the program built on,” Barnes said. “A bunch of them had to be thrust out there right from the beginning and had to perform at a high level.”
Vescovi enters Tuesday night having averaged 11.4 points in 107 career games, while James has averaged 8.9 in 101 and Nkamhoua 6.2 in 105. Plavsic, who led Hamilton Heights to the National Association of Christian Athletes (NACA) Division I national championship and spent his first college season redshirting at Arizona State, has averaged 3.7 points in 94 games with the Vols.
“Uros brings a physicality to us,” Barnes said. “He’s done that since he’s been here.”
Said Plavsic: “This changed my life, the whole experience here. I’m just really happy.”
VITELLO, AHUNA CLEARED
Tennessee will have coach Tony Vitello and transfer shortstop Maui Ahuna available Tuesday afternoon when the Vols welcome Charleston Southern to Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
“We are pleased to announce that Coach Vitello has completed his three-game suspension,” the school announced via a statement. “He will be back in the dugout leading our baseball team tomorrow. We are also thrilled that Maui Ahuna’s eligibility has been reinstated, and he is available to join Tennessee’s active roster effective immediately.”