Lucas Panzica talks about the most recent transfer portal pickup for the Vols, as Rick Barnes tries to rebuild his roster and make another NCAA Tournament push in 2026.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00As college basketball season comes to an end, Tennessee has gotten off to a pretty good start in its roster reset, landing a huge portal target just last weekend.
00:12Hey, Lucas Panzeke here from 104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports.
00:16So we knew the moment Tennessee's season ended in the Elite Eight against Houston that Rick Barnes has a tall task in front of him in resetting this roster with the entire backcourt on the way out.
00:27Like Sakai Ziegler, Chaz Lanier, Jemai Mayshak, some players returning in the frontcourt, but overall a lot of work to do.
00:34And Tennessee already picked up its number one portal target last weekend, landing a commitment from Maryland transfer guard Jacoby Gillespie.
00:44Gillespie comes to Tennessee after being Maryland's second lead scorer last season, averaging over 14 points per game as well as 4.8 assists per game and shooting over 40% from three.
00:55This is a huge acquisition for Rick Barnes and Tennessee as a guy that can slot straight into the lineup as this team's starting point guard next season.
01:04And Gillespie has plenty of Tennessee ties.
01:08In fact, born in Greenville, Tennessee, went to high school in East Tennessee at Greenville and started his collegiate career in Nashville playing for the Belmont Bruins, where he was their lead scorer in the 2023-2024 season.
01:21I actually got a chance to talk to Belmont head coach Casey Alexander, who worked with Gillespie on both of those years, and he described him as a wide-open offensive playmaker.
01:32So, Gillespie is a guy that can immediately come in and change the face of this Tennessee offense.
01:38The question is, how does he adapt to the Rick Barnes style of play, especially defensively, which is a question for any transfer coming in.
01:46But there's no doubt that was huge news for Tennessee basketball in the very first weekend of the offseason as the Final Four is going on.
01:55And, of course, Tennessee did make one more addition, a more familiar face, in former Vanderbilt forward Jalen Carey.
02:02That's right.
02:03He comes over from that side of the rivalry.
02:06And Tennessee fans may remember Carey for what he did against the Vols this past season.
02:10Had a double-double in the first matchup against Vanderbilt, the game Tennessee lost at Memorial Gym,
02:16and scored 18 points in the second meeting in Knoxville in the matchup that Tennessee won last season.
02:22Carey averaged eight points per game over five rebounds per game for Vanderbilt.
02:26And suddenly, Tennessee's front court is looking very strong next year with the return of Cade Phillips and J.P. Estrella, as well as Felix Okpara.
02:35In fact, Jalen Carey had this quote, which Tennessee fans will love.
02:39He told it to Ryan Shumpert of Rocky Top Insider.
02:42Quote, I'm a Vol now, man.
02:44Don't care about no black and gold.
02:46I bleed orange now.
02:47I don't care about what they've got to say.
02:50So, Jalen Carey, formerly a James Madison player who followed then-James Madison coach Mark Byington to Vanderbilt when Byington took that job.
02:59He is now a Tennessee volunteer, and he is going out guns blazing.
03:03Should be fun when Tennessee and Vandy meet up again.
03:06But there's no question, there's more work to do for Rick Barnes and his team, but this was a great start in the transfer portal for Tennessee basketball.