You knew what you were going to get from guys like Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Felix Okpara. You figured Nate Ament would get it going pretty quickly as a can’t miss, elite prospect. If ever there were a true x-factor on this Tennessee basketball team, perhaps even a little forgotten about, it was always J.P. Estrella.
The 6-11, 240 pound center appeared in just three games last season before shutting things down due to injury. Estrella worked his way back this offseason and through two games he appears
to be ready to handle a heavy workload this season.
Gifted on the offensive end in particular, Estrella has put up 12 and 17 points in Tennessee’s first two games of the season. He’s connecting on 66.7 percent of his attempts from the field so far, grabbing 16 rebounds during that time. His work in the offensive rebounding category is particularly impressive, grabbing six against Northern Kentucky — a few of which for quick put-back buckets.
“It changes everything and he can do more,” Rick Barnes said of Estrella. “I promise you, he can do more of that. And he’s doing it, again, he’s had a year off where it always is tough. When you and you think back at the end of his freshman year, you felt like he was making the strides, and he still doesn’t have a clue how good he can be. He’s such a humble, free loving guy. And I told him, I said, you can be like that. But when you get on the floor, you have to change the way you see things, the way you do things, but there’s just so much more there. And I think he’ll get there.”
Estrella is a former four-star prospect out of Maine. Tennessee beat out Iowa, Syracuse, Duke and Illinois for Estrella, and you’re starting to see why he had so much interest. He notably grew eight inches from his freshman year in high school and has since put on 30 pounds since arriving in Knoxville.
Barnes sees plenty of room for growth going forward.
“If he’ll fight for his space, if he’ll fight for where he needs to be, and again, he’s still gonna have to play quicker, because the more you do, the more people going to come after you quicker and you’re not gonna be able to play around with it,” Barnes said. “You’re going to have to be able to get set to score the ball before he really gets it.
“But he’s making strides, and like I said, he’s just getting started.”
Tennessee’s frontcourt is now very deep, which hasn’t really been the case in recent years. The Volunteers can take a load off of Okpara now, armed with Jaylen Carey, Cade Phillips, J.P. Estrella and freshman DeWayne Brown. Barnes has found a way to work each guy into the rotation so far, which could pay dividends down the stretch of the season.
The ever-evolving rotation will get its next chance to develop on Wednesday night as Tennessee hosts North Florida. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET in Knoxville on SEC Network+.
