The first sentence came flying out of Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes mouth. What does JP Estrella’s early season emergence change for the Vols’ offense?
“It changes everything,” Barnes said following Tennessee’s 95-56 win over Northern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.
Estrella went for 17 points on a crisp eight-of-11 shooting from the field against the Norse while making one-of-two free throw attempts. Through two games this season, Estrella is averaging 14.5 points and eight rebounds.
The 6-foot-11 sophomore has always been a talented offensive player, so the early season success certainly is not shocking. But that doesn’t make it any less important. And the second sentence out of Barnes’ mouth came out just as quickly as the first.
“He can do more,” Barnes said. “I promise you, he can do more of that. … He’s such a humble, free loving guy. And I told him, I said, you can be like that. But when you get on the floor, you have to change the way you see things, the way you do things, but there’s just so much more there. And I think he’ll get there.”
The only real surprise from Estrella’s strong start to the season is that it comes so quickly after he missed nearly the entirety of the 2024-25 season with a left foot injury. Estrella’s rehab from the foot surgery limited him this summer and created the question on how quickly he would be able to hit the ground running.
But despite rehabbing much of the prior year, Estrella showed real strides during Tennessee’s preseason practices which have carried over to the start of the season.
“He went at it with a lot of vengeance,” Barnes told RTI of Estrella’s rehab this offseason. “He wanted to get back. Sitting out, I think it matured him in a lot of ways. I think he realized the potential he had. I think watching, he missed it. Which is a wonderful sign. That he found out he loved the game more than he even thought.”
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The offensive skillset has always been there for Estrella. Defense and rebounding have been bigger questions early in his career. He’s grabbed 16 total rebounds through two games and his offensive rebound rate ranks top five nationally. It’s an extremely small sample size against weak competition, but a good early sign nonetheless.
Estrella played just eight minutes in Tennessee’s exhibition loss against Duke with Barnes citing the defensive issues as the reason why. Following the Northern Kentucky game, Barnes said that Estrella — like the vast majority of the Vols’ roster — isn’t where they want him to be. However, the veteran head coach expressed optimism that Estrella will get there.
“Is he getting there? He will, the more he’s out there,” Barnes said.
An interesting dynamic to watch with Estrella is which big men he’s on the court with. Tennessee is extremely deep in the front court and center Felix Okpara is the lone returning starter who is going to play a ton of minutes.
How much will Tennessee play Okpara and Estrella together? Matchups will affect this as defense is the major question. Can that front court combo defend stretch forwards on the perimeter? It remains to be seen.
Through two games, Estrella has played 23 total possessions with Okpara. It’s the least he’s played with a Vol front court member followed by Jaylen Carey (33), DeWayne Brown (34) and Cade Phillips (50).
Again, it’s a tiny sample size and it is overall pretty balanced. But it will be worth watching moving forward and is a good problem to have created by Estrella’s early season offensive burst.
