Santiago Vescovi missed Tennessee basketball’s Sweet 16 win over Creighton due to sickness. His absence allowed Jahmai Mashack to take his place, especially on defense in the hard-fought win over the Bluejays but Vescovi is expected to return to the court sooner than later.
The Vols guard told media on Saturday that he wants to play in the Elite 8. Vescovi is not known for missing games throughout his college career. Friday night’s game was only the fourth game in five years he had missed. It’s a feeling out process at this point as he is still recovering from the flu, but wants to be out there with his teammates win or lose when they take on Purdue.
“I want to play,” Vescovi said on Saturday. “The flu has been kicking my tail, but yeah, we’ll see today how I feel out there, and then tomorrow, same thing. The main message is that I do wanna play and be with the guys. I’m going to do everything I can to play tomorrow.”
Head coach Rick Barnes also expects to see Vescovi ready to play on Sunday. “He looked better today,” Barnes said. “We won’t obviously do very much today. We’ll just see really more so tomorrow, I think once we get going. We expect him to be ready.”
Barnes also noted that Vescovi’s sickness has not prevented him from keeping up with gameplanning and strategy through Zoom in case he is ready to go on Sunday. There is a clear expectation from Vescovi and Barnes that he will play on Sunday. The entire team stepped up in his absence on Friday night, but it will take a full team effort to defeat Purdue.
The Vols and Boilermakers will tip off at 2:20 PM ET on Sunday. The Vols will look to hand Purdue their fifth loss of the season and secure their spot in this year’s Final Four.
DETROIT − Santiago Vescovi is expected to be available for Tennessee basketball against Purdue in the Elite Eight on Sunday.
The Vols senior guard “will warm up with the intent to play,” a UT spokesperson said.
Vescovi did not play against Creighton on Friday while battling the flu, which he said had been “kicking my tail.” No. 2 Tennessee (27-8) is playing to reach the first Final Four in program history against the No. 1 seed Boilermakers (32-4) on Sunday (2:20 p.m. ET, CBS)
Vescovi is averaging 6.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game this season.
Vescovi indicated Saturday he planned to try and play against Purdue. He did not practice Thursday in Detroit and then sat out in UT’s 82-75 win against the Bluejays to reach the Elite Eight for the second time in program history. Jahmai Mashack started in Vescovi’s spot.
Vescovi missed a game for the fourth time in his career out of 152 games. He had played in a program-record 148 games with 144 starts.
Vescovi had started every game this season for Tennessee and the Vols had started the same lineup for 28 straight games.
Santiago Vescovi has been a staple for Tennessee basketball for five years
Vescovi is averaging 10.4 points per game in his career and shooting 37.3% on 3-pointers.
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Vescovi became the Tennessee leader in career steals with 212 after he tallied three against Texas in UT’s 62-58 win in the second round in Charlotte. He is one of two players to make more than 100 3-pointers in a season. He hit 102 as a junior in 2021-22. Chris Lofton did it three times. He also ranks third in school history in 3-pointers with 325, trailing Lofton’s 431 and Allan Houston’s 346.
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