Santiago Vescovi named top-10 candidate for the Jerry West Award.
Tennessee senior guard Santiago Vescovi was named a top-10 candidate for the Jerry West Award, the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.
The award, in its ninth year, recognizes the best shooting guard in the nation. The list will be narrowed to five finalists in March.
Through the Vols’ first 23 games, Vescovi is averaging 11.9 points per contest and is the team’s leading scorer. He leads Tennessee in minutes per game (31.9) and 3-point field goals (48).
Vescovi is shooting 35.8 percent from beyond the 3-point attempts in Southeastern Conference play.
Vescovi is fifth in program history with 239 made 3-point attempts and is Tennessee’s 44th all-time leading scorer with 1,142 career points.
Three Tennessee basketball players honored on All-SEC teams.
Three Tennessee basketball players were honored by the Southeastern Conference coaches Tuesday.
Junior guard Santiago Vescovi was named first-team All-SEC, while freshman guard Kennedy Chandler received second-team honors. Guard Zakai Zeigler was named to the SEC’s All-Defensive Team.
Chandler and Zeigler were also named to the league’s all-freshman team.
Vescovi has made a total of 87 3-point shots this season and leads the conference in 3-point shooting percentage (.445). He made 57 shots from long range in league play.
In SEC play, Vescovi averaged 14.3 points per game.
Chandler averaged 13.8 points, 4.4 assists and 2.2 steals per game in 17 SEC contests this season. He set a UT freshman record with 64 steals.
Zeigler is only the fourth Vol ever to be named to the league’s all-defensive team. He is the first UT player to be selected to the team as a freshman.
Other Tennessee players to be named to the all-defensive team include Jajuan Smith (2008), Josh Richardson (2014-15) and Yves Pons (2020-21).
Darius Days Struggles in LSU’s 64-50 loss to Tennessee
LSU Men’s basketball team has lost three straight games after Tennessee’s 64-50 win. The Tigers are now 15-4 and 3-4 in the SEC.
LSU struggled from the field, shooting 38% and 17.6% from three-point land. Tennessee jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead as the Tigers missed their first seven shots. The Tigers then went on a 12-3 run to get back in the game, but the Vols did an outstanding job holding off and eventually won by 14 points.
LSU played again without point guard Xavier Pinson, and his absence is starting to affect the way the Tigers play on the court. Tari Eason led the Tigers in scoring with 16 points and added six rebounds. Brandon Murray had 15 points on 7-12 shooting, and Eric Gaines pitched in with ten points.
However, Darius Days again struggled, scoring just five points on 2-10 shooting from the field and 1-7 from beyond the arc. He re-injured his ankle but did return to the game.
Santiago Vescovi led Tennessee in scoring with 16 points, and he hit five three-pointers. Uros Plavsic added 12 points and six rebounds. The Vols did a great job on the defensive end, forcing LSU into tough shots. Tennessee also hit ten three-point attempts, which helped them win the game.
Up next for LSU, they return home to take on Texas A&M. The Tigers need to get going; hopefully, Pinson will come back soon. However, they must also get Days on track the last two games; he has struggled a lot.
Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi makes Uruguay qualifying team.
Tennessee junior basketball player Santiago Vescovi will represent his country in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament.
Vescovi, a guard for the Volunteers, made Uruguay’s Olympic qualifying tournament in Victoria, Canada. Tournament play opens Tuesday and runs through July 4.
Uruguay will play its qualifying opener against a group stage game against Turkey on Tuesday. Uruguay then plays the Czech Republic Thursday.
The group stage will be followed by a bracket stage with Greece, China and the host Canadians making up Uruguay’s bracket.
The winner of the bracket stage will qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which are scheduled to run from July 23 through Aug. 8.
During his career with the Volunteers, Vescovi has appeared in 46 games, making 42 starts. He has averaged 9.5 points per game.
Tennessee’s Santiago Vescovi selected to compete for spot on Uruguay’s national team.
Santiago Vescovi will compete to represent Uruguay and qualify for the upcoming Olympics.
He will be one of 16 players vying for 12 spots on Uruguay’s Olympic qualifying roster.
Uruguay’s 16 hopefuls will begin practicing on June 14.
The roster will be trimmed to 12 players before the team competes for a spot in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics field.
The FIBA qualifying tournament will be held June 29-July 4 in Victoria, Canada.
Uruguay will play in a group stage against Turkey (June 29) and the Czech Republic (July 1) before moving on to a bracket stage, which will include Greece, China and Canada.
The winner of bracket stage advances to Tokyo for the Olympics, scheduled for July 25-Aug. 7.
Tennessee sophomore guard Santiago Vescovi scored 23 points at Texas A&M.
The Vols (9-1, 3-1 SEC) defeated Texas A&M, 68-54, improving to 3-1 in Southeastern Conference play.
Following Tennessee’s win, Vescovi met with media and discussed his performance against the Aggies.
Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi (25) makes a 3-point basket over Texas A&M forward Jonathan Aku (15) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Craft)
Below is a transcript provided by the University of Tennessee.
On the challenges of getting comfortable shooting in a new arena:
“It was hard to be honest. Today I was not feeling that good in terms of rhythm on my shot. I really do not know what happened today. I was shooting in the warm up and couldn’t make shots, but I got in the game and they started falling so I just started taking opportunities.”
On how much of an emphasis it was for him during the offseason to cut down on turnovers:
“That’s something I’ve been working on a lot. I knew since last season that I was struggling with that and I needed to fix that. I think coach has done a pretty good job with all of us in terms of taking care of the ball. He makes sure every time down the floor that we take care of the ball and get a good shot. I think that’s the way we have to play and it’s been working for us.”
University of Tennessee sophomore guard Santiago Vescovi broke out of his season-long scoring slump in a big way when the Volunteers needed it most.
Vescovi scored a game-high 23 points to lift the No. 9 Vols to a 68-54 Southeastern Conference victory over Texas A&M Saturday afternoon at Reed Arena in College Station.
Vescovi’s offensive output also represented a career-high and he was one of three players to post double figures in the scoring column for the Big Orange (9-1, 3-1 SEC).
Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi (25) makes a 3-point basket over Texas A&M forward Jonathan Aku (15) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Craft)
John Fulkerson scored 11 points and freshman Jaden Springer finished with 10.
Vescovi made six shots from beyond the 3-point arc and had five rebounds and three assists for the Volunteers, who led 37-30 over the Aggies (6-4, 1-3) at halftime.
Fulkerson finished the contest with five rebounds and three blocks.
On what UT needs to improve on when playing against a zone:
“I think we did a really good job when the game started, then they went to a zone. I think we need to be more aggressive against it. I know we can be, but it is our first game—we knew there would be some things we would struggle with, but we’ll get it done. We’ll work on it every day and I think we’re going to get better at it.”
On how the Vols were able to guard so well at the guard position:
“Thinking about how deep our team is, I think that’s one of the main things that kept us in a good defensive position. We have a lot of really athletic guys and I think we’re doing a good job every week in practice defending against each other. Also, knowing that you can give 100 percent on every possession knowing that the guy who’s coming in on the next play is going to give his 100 percent effort—just being that deep on our bench is what kept us in a good defensive position.”
On how much different it feels compared to last year knowing there are five or six guys that can come off the bench and play at a high level:
“It feels really different with the depth we have in the team right now knowing that you can go 100 percent every possession on offense or defense and know that the guy coming in will give their all and play at a high level. I mean, it’s really fun, because they can all score the ball, they can all play defense. It’s just fun and it all comes from trusting each other and I think we have a really great group this year.”
