Tennessee basketball held a practice open to the media on Tuesday afternoon as Vol players return from a Fourth of July break for the fifth week of summer practices. It was the second time that practice has been open to the media this summer as we learn more about this new-look Tennessee team.
Let’s start on the injury front where Tyler Lundblade did not practice as he continues to battle a back injury. Troy Henderson went through individual shooting drills at the start of practice but when team work began, the sophomore guard moved off to the side.
Tuesday’s practice had a real “second day back from a week off” tone. That is to say, Rick Barnes was not having any crap and was pushing the team extremely hard. Early in practice as the team shifted from drills into 4v4 work, their urgency was not to Barnes’ liking which led to the entire team running.
The freshmen were one of the bigger stories of the day as both Ralph Scott and Manny Green impressed me.
It’s easy to see that Scott’s ceiling is super high because of his 6-foot-8 frame and 7-foot-3 wingspan. At the first practice we watched, Scott looked a bit like a deer in the headlights. Tuesday, Scott looked much more comfortable. He used his long frame to hit jumpers over defenders. Perhaps the most impressive part of his day was a pair of tough rebounds he grabbed.
Scott soared to grab an offensive rebound before finishing with a dunk. On another instance, he grabbed a defensive rebound and held on to the ball as Jalen Haralson physically tried to steal the ball.
The Bermuda native also had a really impressive block on Juke Harris. Harris drove with his left hand across the lane and thought he had Scott sealed on his right hip. But Scott’s wingspan allowed him to recover and block the shot.
Scott had to be a favorite amongst his teammates on Tuesday. As Tennessee lined up to run after practice, Barnes made it simple. If Scott made his time then they were done for the day. Scott made his time.
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Green’s toughness and defensive intensity could earn him a role as a true freshman. He made a few nice plays on that end while showing an ability to hit open shots on the other. There were some freshman moments, including an air balled jumper that led him to the versa climber, but I remain high on the Atlanta native.
The other headline takeaway was DeWayne Brown who turned in the best practice I’ve seen from him in his time at Tennessee. Barnes drew up multiple plays to get the ball to Brown and let him facilitate offense and the sophomore just consistently made the right play.
Brown found open shooters off the short role and found cutters from the top of the key. One of the prettiest plays of the day came when Terrence Hill found Brown on the pick-and-roll and Hill made the extra pass to Jalen Haralson for a dunk. Brown also had a number of baskets himself, playing with force around the rim but showing touch on shots 5-to-10 feet from the rim.
Terrence Hill is going through the Rick Barnes’ point guard boot camp and there were plenty of moments where Barnes was upset with him or sent him to the versa climber. But Hill seems to take it all in stride and finished practice extremely well.
In a quick stretch at one point, Hill hit a three-pointer, scored on an and-one and then set up Green for a wide open corner triple that the freshman knocked down.
Juke Harris was the biggest name in Tennessee’s transfer class and showed off his shot making. I noted him making four three-pointers during 5v5 work but easily could have missed one. He hasn’t scored at the basket quite as much as I expected in the two practices I’ve watched but that’s obviously a very small sample size.
One thing that Harris does really well is using a shot fake. There was an instance at the rim, in the midrange and from three-point range when Harris got his defender in the air and then buried a shot. Harris got banged up and did not participate in the final bit of practice.
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Jalen Haralson is the Swiss army knife for this team. He played point guard, the three-spot and four-spot on Tuesday. After struggling a bit in the last practice we watched, Haralson had a really nice showing on Tuesday. The Notre Dame transfer is really good at getting into the middle of the paint and shooting over defenders.
Haralson should also be as dangerous in transition as any player on this Tennessee roster. The outside jumper just is not there but the 6-foot-7 wing does just about everything else.
One thing that stands out watching this team is how many players are working at point guard. A year after Ja’Kobi Gillespie shouldered the vast majority of that burden, a number of guys are getting reps there including Haralson, Hill, Harris, Marquis Clark and Dai Dai Ames.
Tennessee ended practice with Ames running a floppy action where he showed his ability to curl off pindown screens and hit midrange jumpers.
Like Harris, Miles Rubin got banged up and missed some time the last third of practice. It was an up-and-down day for the Loyola (Chicago) transfer. He blocked a Hill lob attempt and scored in transition on a nice pass from Clark, but he also had a bad missed dunk and did not stand out a ton.
Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Braedan Lue. The Kennesaw State transfer continues to impress me with his defense and toughness. He’s an extremely versatile defender who can make an impact both on and off the ball. Lue also hit a corner three-pointer and had a nice finish at the rim in 5v5 work which is a good cherry on top. After watching two practices, I think Lue is going to have a role this season.
