Tennessee basketball practice facility Pratt Pavilion. Photo by RTI
Tennessee basketball held a practice open to the media Tuesday afternoon as they continue its third week of summer practices. The open practice was the first time the media has gotten to watch the 2025-26 Vols practice and there were plenty of takeaways about the new group.
Let’s start with some housekeeping notes. Bishop Boswell was absent from practice due to illness while Clarence Massamba doesn’t get to Knoxville until the second session of summer school in July.
Freshman Amari Evans is dealing with a minor ankle injury. He worked off to the side for the entirety of practice. JP Estrella (foot) and Jaylen Carey (illness) both went through drill work with the team but worked off to the side once they went to five-on-five portions of practice.
Tennessee spent the first half of practice doing drill work and running through its sets against air. Those sets always end with every player taking shots to maximize shooting work.
Cade Phillips didn’t shoot a ton of three-pointers during five-on-five work but he did shoot the ball really well from the perimeter in drills. JP Estrella also shot the ball well from the perimeter in drill work. Jaylen Carey hit some perimeter shots too but he didn’t look quite as sharp shooting the ball. Maybe the illness impacted him a bit.
Carey is an absolute force inside. Extremely imposing physically and shook the basket on a number of dunks. His touch could use some work so we’ll see how he’s progressed there. His illness has limited him for multiple weeks but he’s on the come up now and is getting closer to 100%.
When Tennessee went to the five-on-five portion of practice, all just in the half court, the first team was Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Troy Henderson, Nate Ament, Cade Phillips and Felix Okpara. The second team was Amaree Abram, DeWayne Brown and walk-ons.
Let’s start with the two biggest names— Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament.
Gillespie can shoot the absolute crap out of the ball. He’s darn near automatic from the perimeter when he’s open. During five-on-five work Gillespie made three straight triples coming off of pin down screens. Amaree Abram switched on him after the third three.
Abram, who was hailed for his defense, did a great job getting into passing lanes and getting a few steals once switched on to Gillespie. But then Felix Okpara set a strong screen on him to free Gillespie up and the Maryland transfer drilled the triple.
Gillespie also impressed with his ability to get to the basket and finish in traffic. Overall, the Greeneville native is just a good decision maker around the basket
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Now to Ament. It was just one practice but he fully lived up to his billing during it. He made multiple jaw dropping plays. There was the baseline drive where he threw down a two-handed dunk over a guard who was late on help defense. On another play Ament had his back to the basket from 12 feet. He turned left shoulder, pump faked and then did step through and finished the left-handed layup before the help could get there.
One are Ament really impressed me was with his facilitating. He got his teammates open shots or dunks multiple times on drives. He is just plays so smooth and is not in a hurry. Very impressive trait for someone in his first weeks playing college basketball.
During five-on-five work, Ament exclusively worked at the three-spot. Even with a few big men limited, Ament didn’t play any at the four-spot.
His guard skillset at his size also makes him extremely difficult to defend. Ament can cover a lot of ground from the time he picks up his dribble. That helps him avoid turning the ball over when driving to the basket.
There’s been a lot of positive buzz around Troy Henderson his first few weeks on campus and it’s easy to see why. He handles the ball well and is a solid perimeter shooter. Very physically put together for a true freshman. Some of him playing with the first team was about the guards that were absent but it’s also a lot about him.
Henderson mostly played the two guard but also ran some reps at point guard while Gillespie played the two-spot. That’s a super intriguing combination because of how effective Gillespie is shooting off of off-ball screens.
We touched on Cade Phillips earlier but he looks like he’s taken another step forward. Continues to make plays cleaning up junk but is more polished offensively. Hit a couple well defended turnaround jumpers. Phillips is also someone who could step up into a bigger leadership role. That’s something this team seems to be lacking in the early stages. One rep, a walk-on was going to fill an empty spot and Phillips sprinted to the spot to get the extra rep.
Sticking in the front court, JP Estrella looks closer to being 100%. Was not very limited in drill work. While he isn’t doing five-on-five work that is not surprising due to the recovery time from his foot surgery.
DeWayne Brown is another freshman there’s been positive buzz about. The Hoover native has extremely long arms and good touch around the rim. Felix Okpara blocked a turnaround from him leading Rick Barnes to get on the freshman. The next rep? Brown turned left shoulder and finished a baby hook over Okpara.
Lastly, Amaree Abram shot the ball pretty well during Tuesday’s practice. Didn’t do a ton of creating off the dribble though that isn’t a major part of his game. He looked strong on the defensive end which was more of his calling card out of the transfer portal.