Tennessee basketball guard Troy Henderson has been limited during summer practices as he rehabs a left shoulder injury. Henderson underwent surgery on April 8 but continues to progress well as he looks to return to the court before the start of the 2026-27 season.
“Looking forward to Troy getting back,” Barnes said. “Troy was probably ahead of schedule but we knew we weren’t going to allow him to do anything with the team, physically, until we got back in the fall. But he’s been doing more non-contact stuff with us. But he’s probably been ahead of schedule.”
During Tennessee’s practices open to the media, Henderson has gone through drills at the start of practice with the rest of his teammates. But once competitive, contact work begins, Henderson has worked off to the side where he has continued to do shooting drills.
Henderson has made noticeable progress even to what the media can see at practice. When Tennessee’s players first returned from the Fourth of July break, Henderson was only able to shoot midrange jump shots. By the middle of July, Henderson was back to attempting three-point shots.
The 6-foot-1 guard suffered the left shoulder injury and played through it the back half of his freshman season. Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said in March that Henderson was gritting his way through the remainder of the season before undergoing offseason surgery.
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Henderson originally announced plans to enter the transfer portal this offseason before changing course and announcing plans to return to Tennessee for his sophomore season.
“Thinking further about my future and having a great conversation with Coach Barnes and the staff, I’ve realized there is no place I’d rather be than right here on Rocky Top,” Henderson wrote.
Henderson played in 28 games during his freshman season at Tennessee, averaging 1.8 points and 1.1 assists in seven minutes per game. The combo guard proved to be a solid three-point shooter, making 15 triples at a 34% clip over the course of the season. He made just a pair of two-pointers during the season.
The Virginia native competed with Ethan Burg for Tennessee’s backup point guard spot behind Ja’Kobi Gillespie. At points throughout the season, Henderson was the Vols’ backup point guard. However, Burg ended up winning that job down the course of the season with Henderson playing just four minutes in Tennessee’s final five games played.
Henderson will have to battle for playing time in a backcourt that should be stellar next season. Tennessee landed Terrence Hill, Dai Dai Ames, Juke Harris and Tyler Lundblade out of the transfer portal while signing high schoolers Marquis Clark and Manny Green.
