Tennessee basketball: Ranking every Vols newcomer for 2022-23

Transferring to Tennessee basketball from the Indiana State Sycamores, Tyreke Key is a scoring guard. At 6’2″ 207 pounds, he has one year of eligibility left.

You don’t take graduate transfers just to ride the bench. Assuming he’s fully cleared to play and back to 100 percent, Tyreke Key could immediately become a major scoring threat for Tennessee basketball. Despite being an inch shorter than B.J. Edwards, he’s clearly more of a scoring guard, and he’s the reason the two is so deep.

Key, who came out of Clay County High School in Celina, Tenn., is back home. He missed all of last year due to injury, and he only shot 31.6 percent from three in 2020-2021. However, he played that year injured, and he still averaged over 17 points a game.

For his career, in four years at Indiana State, Key averaged 14.5 points a game, shot 37.4 from the three-point line while making nearly one and a half a game, and is just over 80 percent from the free throw line. He also averages nearly four and a half rebounds for his career, a number that was nearly five and a half his last year playing.

This is why it’s a safe bet that Key will be specifically a scoring guard for Tennessee basketball, and despite key players returning, he has a chance to work his way into the starting lineup. His potential is that great. Barnes took him for a reason.