The next 48 hours will be important for the Tennessee Volunteers’ upcoming basketball season, since the transfer portal will be open.
Tennessee has already lost JP Estrella, Cade Phillips, Bishop Boswell, and Clarence Massamba.
Tennessee has Amari Evans, Dewayne Brown, Gavin Paull, Campbell Duncan, Troy Henderson, Ethan Burg, and Nate Ament right now (Nate Ament had not declared for the NBA Draft as of publication).
This occurs as the Volunteers lost their fifth player to the portal in Jaylen Carey.
Carey has previously played at three other schools in the last three years. He began his career at James Madison, averaging 7. 4 points per game.
He then transferred to Vanderbilt, where he averaged 8. 0 points and 5. 7 rebounds per game. He had three double-doubles that season, including a 14-point, 10-rebound performance against Tennessee.
Following the season, he chose to reenter the portal, eventually landing at Tennessee.
This season, he averaged 7. 0 points and 6. 0 rebounds per game. He also had 11 steals last season.
He had a season-high 22 points against Syracuse. Carey had another outstanding effort a few days after the Syracuse game, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in Tennessee’s win against Kansas.
Carey featured in the season’s opener against Mercer, but did not start again until the defeat against Kentucky on January 17. He started six SEC games between February 18 and March 7, but only eight in total.
He only played six minutes in Tennessee’s first-round triumph over Miami (Ohio), but he had a tournament-high 21 minutes against Iowa State.
What is next for Tennessee?
Carey has a challenging responsibility. He was never the tallest player on the court, but his body structure allowed him to play low.
Losing him and JP Estrella harmed Tennessee because they were The volunteers’ two major “enforcers” down low.
Kansas’ Bryson Tiller is a potential replacement. Tiller attended high school with the City Reapers as part of the Overtime Elite Academy, where he played alongside current Tennessee guard Amari Evans. Last season, he played in 31 games for the Jayhawks, averaging 7. 9 points and 6. 1 rebounds each game.
