Tennessee's Potential Draft Prospects Set To Make Official Debut

The Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball team is set to make their official season debut.

Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier (2) moves towards the basket while guarded by Indiana guard Kanaan Carlyle (9) during a college basketball exhibition game on Sunday, October 27, 2024, in Knoxville. Tenn. / Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball team is set to make their official season debut next week on Monday, Nov. 4. They'll be taking on Gardner-Webb at their home arena, the Thompson-Boiling Arena, at 7 p.m. ET

The Volunteers — Vols for short — added two big-time, highly-recruited portal transfer prospects during the offseason in Chaz Lanier and Igor Milicic Jr., both of whom should be ready to go to make their official season debut in the Orange and White. With strong displays of productivity throughout the 2024-25 season, they could slot their names into draft conversations.

The Vols are coming off the backs of a close loss in an exhibition game to Indiana, where they fell 62-66 in the finals seconds of regulation. While Lanier struggled converting shots in that game, he was uber-aggressive and took a ton of threes in a variety of situations, from spot-ups, to coming off screens, to one-dribble pullups, and pullups in transition. Despite finishing the game 2-of-12 from three, he should continue taking these shots in Tennesee's motion-based offense as he was one of the best shooters in the country for North Florida last season.

Milicic Jr. was instantly impactful in his role, making shots, drawing fouls, grabbing rebounds, and covering rotations on the defensive end as a long, fluid 6-foot-10 forward. He was a strong shooter and closeout attacker last season, who also put his athleticism to use by securing and creating extra possessions with his rebounding and event-creation skills. It'll be interesting to see how Coach Rick Barnes deploys Milicic Jr. defensively given his versatility.

Although not a transfer prospect, Cam Carr is a second-year Volunteer who looks to play a larger role with the team this season. Despite playing under five minutes per game last season, he saw 10-plus minutes in the game versus Indiana and should see his minutes rise continually throughout the season. Carr is an athletic, two-way shooting wing and another name to keep an eye on as a potential sleeper draft prospect.

Tennessee’s matchup with Gardner-Webb will be televised live on SECN+.

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