Tennessee basketball sophomores J.P. Estrella and Cameron Carr have been ruled out for UT’s pair of games at the Baha Mar Championship this week in the Bahamas, the program announced prior to tipoff against Virginia on Thursday night.
“Carr is out for 4-6 weeks with a left thumb injury sustained Sunday in the Volunteers’ win over Austin Peay,” Tennessee stated in a press release. “J.P. Estrella remains out with a left foot injury that kept him off the court against Austin Peay. He will not compete in the Baha Mar Championship, as he continues to be evaluated.”
Tipoff between the Vols (4-0) and Cavaliers (3-0) inside of the Baha Mar Convention Center is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET on the CBS Sports Network. UT will face Baylor or St. John’s in its second game in Nasssau on Friday night depending on the results of Thursday’s pair of games.
Rick Barnes labeled Estrella “day-to-day” following Sunday’s win over Austin Peay until Tennessee can figure out “a different plan” for the forward. Estrella did not play in the Vols’ fourth consecutive win to begin the season as he manages a stress fracture in his foot that plagued him throughout the offseason.
“It is concerning,” Barnes said. “We know he wants to play. We know he has done everything he can do. I think the plan we had for him to start was the right plan… It is day to day and it is the same injury that he has dealt with.”
Estrella is averaging 4.7 points per game in 10.2 minutes across three games this season. He set a career high with five rebounds in Tennessee’s win at Louisville last Saturday, adding two points and a block. The sophomore opened the season by making both of his field-goal attempts in UT’s season-opening win over Gardner-Webb on Nov. 4.
“We need Cade (Phillips),” Barnes said in the wake of Estrella’s development. “The fact is, he has the ability. He can do a lot of things. The more he can play out there, the better he is going to be. I thought Shack (Jahmai Mashack) today, we moved him in there some to play a little bit to play with basically four guards, which gives us that versatility to do that. There are times they had five guards on the court. Cade, we have got a lot of belief in him.”
Cameron Carr injures his left thumb
Carr scored four points before injuring ligaments in his left thumb during Tennessee’s win over Austin Peay. The guard made his lone three-point attempt and, for the second time in his career, blocked two shots.
The Eden Prairie, Minn. native scored 13 points on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor in 16 minutes during UT’s 92-57 win over Montana last Wednesday. Carr was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line, adding two assists, to set career highs in points, made free throws, free-throw attempts and minutes, while tying his top mark in made field goals and assists.
Carr averaged 4.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in Tennessee’s first four games of the season. He’s averaging 10.6 minutes off the bench, is 5-of-8 (62.5%) from the floor, 7-of-9 at the free throw line (77.8%) and 2-of-5 from behind the three-point line. Carr has dished out four assists and blocked a pair of shots.
“With Cam, really, the last two weeks, I think he’s starting to figure out exactly what he’s gotta do to play,” Barnes said following the Montana win. “It has nothing to do with the offensive end. It’s being effective defensively.”
