Tennessee basketball has been searching for a reliable third scoring option all season. With Nate Ament out against South Carolina, the Vols needed their front court to step up and provide an offensive boost. They did just that with the quartet combining for 49 points in Tennessee’s 78-59 victory.
“We said that we talked about it all year playing inside out,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said postgame. “And again, I, obviously I love the way those guys did it.”
The bulk of that front line scoring came from JP Estrella and Felix Okpara. Estrella went for 22 points on a highly efficient 10-for-13 shooting from the field. Okpara scored a career-high 20 points on 10-for-14 shooting from the field.
Okpara feasted on alley-oops, catching seven of them in the lopsided win. Ja’Kobi Gillespie assisted on four of those baskets as he totaled a career-high 12 assists. Barnes gave Gillespie a good deal of credit for the inside scoring success and for good reason.
The senior center had scored in double figures just four times over his first 23 games played this season. Okpara has since scored 10-plus points in three of Tennessee’s last five games and is averaging 13.2 points per game over that stretch.
“He’s improved over the past six, seven games right now,” Okpara said of Gillespie. “I feel like the game is just slowing down for him.
“It’s definitely tied (to Okpara’s scoring). I feel like Ja’Kobi is just seeing the floor now and I feel like he takes more pressure from him scoring.”
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While Okpara’s offensive production feels —at least somewhat— dependent on defensive coverages, Estrella has the ability to create offense himself. Injuries have been an issue for him on-and-off this season and he struggled badly in his first game back at Missouri.
But since then, Estrella is beginning to get back into a groove. He scored 12 points against Alabama before his 22-point outing in Columbia. Since Tennessee inserted Estrella into its starting lineup in late January, the sophomore big man has scored in double figures in seven of 10 games.
“That’s what we need. I mean, that’s who he can be,” Barnes said of Estrella. “If he can do what he did tonight, and it would certainly go a long way to helping us.”
“We need him,” guard Ethan Burg said. “When he’s at his best, we’re a very good team. We need him to keep doing that.”
Tennessee has yearned for its front court to collectively emerge as a strong third scoring option behind Gillespie and Nate Ament this season. They have failed to do so with any consistency. But Estrella is the best scoring option on the front line and is still a young player who is growing.
With Ament sidelined at South Carolina, Estrella and Okpara stepped up the way Tennessee needs them to. But the Gamecocks’ rim protection is a serious weakness. Doing it with consistency against better defenses will be the challenge for the duo.
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