When you go to the box score of the Cal-Wake Forest game from this past March, Tennessee fans will see two familiar names at the top of the list. UT transfer guard Dai Dai Ames led Cal in scoring, while transfer forward Juke Harris led Wake Forest in scoring.
Both players notched 31 points as Wake Forest completed the comeback win on their home court.
Harris was the unequivocal leader for the Demon Deacons, recording a double-double with 31 points and 15 rebounds. He scored on 10-of-22 shots, including going 2-of-6 from three-point range and 9-of-13 from the free-throw line. Harris also played all 40 minutes of the late-season game.
Ames, on the other hand, put Cal on his back in the road environment. He had 31 points on 9-of-18 shooting, going 3-of-8 from the perimeter and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. He also recorded a pair of rebounds and a pair of assists.
The two former competitors are now teammates on the No. 1 transfer portal class at Tennessee.
“I played against Juke (last year),” Ames said while speaking to the UT media for the first time on Tuesday. “He had 30, I had 30. So me just being able to practice with him, to see how he practices, it was good to see that.”
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Harris and Ames had the two highest season scoring averages among Tennessee’s eight-man transfer portal class this season. Harris averaged 21.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.9 assists for the Demon Deacons last year, while Ames averaged 16.9 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists for the Golden Bears.
Both are expected to be high-level contributors for the Volunteers’ new-look unit this upcoming season.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello named Tennessee as having the best transfer portal class in the country. This came just a few days after he named Tennessee as the No. 6 team in the nation in his way-too-early power rankings.
“Rick Barnes put together an elite offensive group, which is a stark contrast to the defense-first system that has brought Tennessee plenty of recent success,” Borzello writes. “Harris was one of the best scorers in the portal. Ames and Hill can create for themselves and others. Lundblade is an elite off-ball mover and 3-point shooter. And Haralson was a five-star recruit who averaged 16.2 points as a freshman. There are obvious questions about how Barnes will get all of them to buy in defensively, though it’s worth noting that Rubin and Fermin have years of experience as high-end shot blockers in the Atlantic 10.”
