Igor Milicic Jr., Felix Okpara rising as Tennessee basketball opens preseason practices

Rick Barnes opened his 10th preseason as the Tennessee basketball coach Tuesday as the Vols held their first official practice.

The Vols have five new players with four transfers and six returners as they prepare to open the season against Gardner-Webb on Nov. 4.

Here are three notes about the Vols:

Igor Milicic Jr. can play all five spots for Tennessee basketball

Igor Milicic Jr. is an intriguing player for Tennessee. He looks like a large forward with offensive savvy who can play on the perimeter or with his back to the basket. The Vols think the 6-foot-10 forward can do more than that.

“He’ll be a guy that will play probably all five positions at some point in time,” Barnes said. “It’s fun because he allows you to do some things that maybe we haven’t done in the past.”

All five positions means UT sees the potential for Milicic to play point guard. The Charlotte transfer is both familiar and comfortable with the idea. He played point guard in Europe but stopped playing it when he came to the U.S. Milicic began his college career at Virginia before transferring to Charlotte then UT.

Milicic averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds in his junior season at Charlotte. He shot 37.6% on 3-pointers and made 56. The next step is doing even more.

“It is one of the things he wants me to do − get the rebound and push it,” Milicic said.

Who will be Zakai Zeigler’s backup?

Zakai Zeigler led Tennessee by playing 31.6 minutes per game last season. The senior point guard is likely in line for heavy minutes again as an indispensable force for UT on both ends.

Tennessee is working to develop a backup option, which has Barnes exploring many possibilities including Milicic.

“We will keep trying to create that so we can use different guys in different situations,” Barnes said.

Senior Justin Gainey is an option. So are seniors Jahmai Mashack and Chaz Lanier. Mashack filled in at point guard in March 2023 after Zeigler suffered a season-ending injury. Lanier transferred to UT from North Florida. All…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/igor-milicic-jr-felix-okpara-210406632.html

Author : Knox News | The Knoxville News-Sentinel

Publish date : 2024-09-24 21:04:06

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