By Logan Starkey
Knoxville, Tenn. — Tennessee has the sort of front court depth that makes them a serious threat to win not only the SEC, but a national championship.
Tennessee eased past Mercer 76-61 in its season opener, but that was expected. What wasn’t expected was them doing it almost entirely with the frontcourt. Tennessee guards combined for 21 points, meaning the other 55 came from the frontcourt.
It was the depth behind the three starters that impressed most.
JP Estrella, who played just three games last year for Tennessee before needing season-ending foot surgery, notched a career-high 12 points and matched his career-high in rebounds with five in 20 minutes off the bench.
“JP can give us a force,” Head Coach Rick Barnes said. “He got fouled on a turnaround jumper, but he can make that shot.”
Barnes was adamant that JP would be a weapon off the bench for the team this season. It was proven when early in the game Tennessee was struggling. The score read 12-10. The box score next to JP Estrella’s name read 6 points. When the offense struggled, Estrella kept them in the game.
But, depth is a team effort. Tennessee had 54 rebounds to Mercer’s 32. Tennessee (44 paint points) DOUBLED Mercer’s (22) points in the paint.
Seven players had at least six points for the Volunteers. Five of those seven are front-court players. Three of those five players came off the bench.
Tennessee has been a physical basketball team the entire time Barnes has been their head coach. That physicality has never been jammed into a combination of six different 6’8 plus players quite like his team had against Mercer.
That size collapsed Mercer’s defense in the second half, which helped Tennessee go from 1/6 from three in the first half to 7/17 over the full game. That sort of gravity of size late in games, the sheer effort it requires to stop Tennessee inside the arc, will result in more open looks from deep.
This is a blend of physicality, size, and perimeter ability Tennessee hasn’t had in recent years. It’s a blend of those three things the SEC has not had to contend with for quite some time. It is that three-pronged set of strengths that will make Tennessee nationally competitive once again.