Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes was slightly frustrated with starting forward J.P. Estrella.
Estrella didn’t play in the Vols’ 89-66 win over Oklahoma on Feb. 18 at Food City Center. He was ruled out with soreness in the same foot that sidelined him for the entire 2024-25 season.
Estrella’s X-rays came back clean, but Barnes said he wished he knew about the discomfort sooner.
“I’m upset with him,” he said. “We tell those guys we don’t care if it’s a little sore. I think he had been sore and he didn’t tell anybody. He wants to play so badly. It was probably there before he let (director of men’s basketball sports medicine Chad Newman) know. You’d have to ask him, but I think it was sore before he let us know it.
“He wants to really help this team and his teammates, but he can’t do that. He’s had that problem with that foot and that’s something you can’t mess around with.”
Since joining the starting lineup on Jan. 24, Estrella averaged 11.7 points and seven rebounds on 55% shooting. Jaylen Carey replaced Estrella as a starter against Oklahoma, but DeWayne Brown II had a more productive performance with 13 points, three rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes.
There’s no timetable for Estrella’s return, though he is considered day to day. Barnes is wary about the injury on his player’s surgically repaired foot.
“I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a concern for him,” Barnes said. “Feet problems are hard to get right. We just got to get it quieted down.”
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: [email protected]
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