Versatility among Tennessee’s transfers is giving the team a whole new look ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Knoxville, Tenn. – You can call it the Dalton Knecht effect when you look at college basketball players who have been influenced to transfer to Rick Barnes’ Volunteers.
Though, it wouldn’t be the whole story.
The transfer of Knecht a season ago evolved into one of the best stories of last year.
However, Knecht’s rise to stardom in his only season on Rocky Top wasn’t without relentless work and an element of surprise.
It appears after Tennessee’s first practice of the preseason, the four transfers all have an element of surprise to them.
One of the transfers Igor Miličić Jr., (MILL-ih-chich) who comes to Tennessee from Charlotte, brings plenty of versatility with him.
In his junior season, he averaged 12.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 blocks in 32.1 minutes per game, while shooting 48.7 percent on field goals, 37.6 percent from deep, and 81.8 percent at the line.
With that degree of efficiency, Barnes and company look to play Igor in a number of different positions.
In fact, Barnes believes Miličić could be someone they play in all five positions when the time comes.
“It’s fun to be honest with you, because He allows you to do some things that maybe we haven’t done the past. And he’s gotten better with a lot of things. And when I think about one thing he we didn’t know he’s a he’s a consistent rebounder, which we didn’t know that, especially offensively and very unselfish. And when you got a guy that with that versatility and with a mindset that he has of being unselfish, it’s fun to have, because you can just mix things up with him,” said Barnes.
Being utilized as a versatile player is something Miličić looks forward to. However, reaching the threshold to where Barnes trusts you to be capable of that takes a lot of hard work.
It also comes with a lot of tough coaching, which is one of the main selling points in Miličić transferring to Tennessee.
“I’m pretty good with it, I don’t get mad at him. I get mad at myself when I mess up. I get mad at myself, but usually, you know, he tells me something. I’m like, All right, I’ll do it better next time, And then I try to do it better next time,” said Miličić.
Even though he was anticipating and almost looking forward to the tough coaching, the degree and frequency in which Barnes delivered on it, took some adjusting.
“How intense practice gets, how hard everybody plays, how hard coach is on everything, how how perfect he wants everything to be. And it’s been new for me, but now I’m used to it, and now it’s just, you know, every day,” said Miličić.
At the end of the day and through the frustration, Miličić knows it’s in an effort to make his players elite, replicate the Dalton Knecht Effect.
“Sometimes you feel like you didn’t mess up, but he sees a little detail that you could do better, but it’s good, like I wanted it. I’m a coach’s son, so I know that hard coaching comes from him wanting us to be better. I’m glad I’m here, and I’m glad that he’s coaching everybody the same and hard, and that we’re getting better every day,” said Miličić.
Part of that coaching is building depth behind Zakai Zeigler at the point guard position.
Freshman Bishop Boswell took most of the reps while Zeigler was limited in summer workouts, but Barnes wants depth and rotation there.
It’s also a position Miličić has plenty of experience and looks forward to the opportunities to bring the ball out.
“I mean, it’s one of the things that he wants me to do. So, you know, get the rebound and push it. I’m good with that. I played like that all my time in Europe, and then when I got to the States, that kind of faded away, but now he wants me to bring it back into into the picture, and I’m happy with it,” said Miličić.
One of the other transfers we heard from during the Vols’ first preseason practice was Felix Okpara, who comes from Ohio State.
While with the Buckeyes, Okpara averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks in 23.6 minutes per game, finishing with a 58.6 percent field-goal clip.
The defensive-minded forward also tied for the eighth-most total blocks in a single season in Ohio State history with 83. Those efforts had him as just one of two DI players to record 60-plus blocks and register at least one in every appearance.
During his media availability he said he could block every shot if he wanted to. However, he’s learning to play more balanced and see the bigger picture while on defense.
He also paced the team in field-goal percentage, total rebounding, offensive rebounding (2.3), blocks and dunks (49), as well as ranked fourth in scoring and made field goals (99).
With Okpara and Miličić he said he’s excited for the mismatches it’ll create.
“It’s gonna be good for the team. You know, for mismatches, you know, you know we can pull them out to draw big, to want to stay in the paints a lot. And also, you know, he can push the ball to shoot. He can he can also leave out really good. So I think it’s really good for the team,” said Okpara.
This aggressive style of play on the defensive end speaks to one Jahmai Mashack who a year ago led or co-led Tennessee in steals seven times, fourth-most on the team, as well as in blocks six times, rebounds twice, and assists once.
“(Jahmai Mashack), he’s a dog, for sure. He makes us better. One time coach Barnes put him as a five in practice, and used to see how he can bang him. It was fun,” said Okpara.
The fun came in the challenge.
“How physical he plays. You know, he don’t give up, that’s for sure,” said Okpara.
Now, the only way to determine whether these transfers will contribute in a way that Knecht did is by trial and error.
“(The) only way we can do that is to throw a lot at them, give them a chance to show us what all they can do, and oftentimes, more times than not we’re surprised, to be quite honest,” said Barnes.