Tennessee Vols wish list for 2019-2020 Christmas holidays

3. Rick Barnes figures out solution at point guard

Lamonte Turner deciding to have season-ending shoulder surgery has put the Tennessee Vols men’s basketball program in a very rough situation. They now have no true point guard yet with any experience in the system who is eligible to play. As a result, Barnes will have to get creative, and he needs a point guard with nobody over 7’0″ on the team. Backcourt play is all he has.

Josiah-Jordan James, the 6’5″ five-star combo guard, is probably going to have to move over to point guard full-time. However, he is still developing, and making the transition like that could end up being really rough on him. Despite showing flashes, James clearly has a lot of work to do to be able to handle that level of responsibility.

On the other hand, Santiago Vescovi, the All-NBA Global player from Uruguay, is a true 6’2″ point guard who is a midseason enrollee. The problem with him, though, is he just joined the team, so despite being a true point guard, he has no experience playing in UT’s system under Barnes at all. Barnes even said he didn’t expect Vescovi to play this year.

Now, though, with Turner out, something has to happen. Vescovi needs to play or James needs to develop extremely quickly. Victor Bailey Jr., a transfer from the Oregon Ducks, will be eligible to play next year. But without him, Vol fans are desperately hoping for Barnes to find a solution at point. And the sad news surrounding Turner is why this made the list.