Tennessee basketball star point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie has been awarded the top weekly honor in the conference for his play this past week. Gillespie was named the Co-SEC Player of the Week, sharing the award with Kentucky’s Otega Oweh.
Gillespie helped steer the Vols to dominant wins over Louisville and Gardner-Webb. Between the pair of wins, he posted an average of 19 points, seven assists and three rebounds per game. The sharp-shooter also shot 40% from distance in that span.
This is now the fourth weekly SEC honor that a Tennessee player has won this season. The other three were SEC Freshman of the Week awards for Nate Ament. Gillespie’s Player of the Week nod was the first in that category for the Vols this season.
Ja’Kobi earns SEC Player of the Week after two dominant wins last week
19.0 PPG / 7.0 APG / 3.0 RPG
read → https://t.co/4g8DOKBzyT pic.twitter.com/YEaSYFgDcx
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) December 22, 2025
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On the season, Gillespie is now averaging 17.6 points per game on 42% shooting from the field and 34.7% on 3-pointers. He’s also contributing 5.7 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game.
As a team, the Vols are off to a 9-3 start. Tennessee dropped three games in a row heading into this past week, but with the help of Gillespie, beat No. 11 Louisville by 21 points and Gardner-Webb by 42.
Next, the Vols, who are now ranked as the No. 19 team in the country in the AP Poll, will play one final game before the SEC slate begins. Tennessee hosts SC State on Dec. 30 at 8 p.m. ET. The game will air on the SEC Network. The Bulldogs are 1-12 this season and 0-10 on the road. They rank as the No. 361 team in the country, according to KenPom.
The first SEC game of the season is scheduled for Jan. 3, 2026, against No. 18 Arkansas and John Calipari on the road. That game will tip off at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
