Tennessee Basketball’s new-look roster will take the floor against Indiana on Sunday afternoon in a charity exhibition game at Food City Center, scheduled for a 3 Eastern Time start and streaming live on SEC Network+.
The offseason roster overhaul included the loss of four players to the NCAA Transfer Portal (Jonas Aidoo, Tobe Awaka, Freddie Dilione V, DJ Jefferson), the addition of four new players from the portal (Darlinstone Dubar, Felix Okpara, Igor Milicic, Chaz Lanier) and the signing of four-star freshman point guard Bishop Boswell.
Tennessee returns six scholarship players from last season: Seniors Zakai Zeigler, Jordan Gainey and Jahmai Mashack and sophomores JP Estrella, Cam Carr and Cade Phillips.
Here’s a look back at how portal season unfolded for the Vols and how the 2024-25 roster was built:
March 31: Dalton Knecht scored 37 points and Tennessee led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but Purdue stood in the way of the Vols on the road to the Final Four. Zach Edey went for 40 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, leading the Boilermakers to a 72-66 in the Midwest Regional Final at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. It was just the second Elite Eight appearance for Tennessee, which went through No. 15 St. Peter’s, No. 7 Texas and No. 3 Creighton on the way to the round of eight. The Vols finished arguably their best season in program history with 27 wins and an SEC regular-season championship, to go with the Elite Eight berth.
April 4: Freddie Dilione was the first Tennessee player to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, a few days removed from the season ending with the loss to Purdue. The redshirt freshman guard and former four-star shooting guard in the 2022 recruiting class was never able to earn a spot in the rotation last season. He enrolled at Tennessee in January 2023, sitting out as a redshirt for the second half of last season, but rarely saw the floor during his redshirt freshman season. Dilione committed to Penn State on April 24.
April 8: Redshirt freshman wing DJ Jefferson becomes the second Tennessee player to enter the portal. He was another four-star prospect in the 2022 class that could never play his way onto the floor at Tennessee. His only appearance last season was in the season-opening win over Tennessee Tech. Jefferson committed to Longwood on April 24.
April 9: The first real surprise of the portal season was Tobe Awaka entering. The sophomore power forward had continued to progress as a sophomore last season, averaging 5.1 points, 4.6 rebound and 0.6 blocks in 12.9 minutes per game, coming off the bench in 33 games. He averaged 3.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per game as a freshman. Awaka committed to Arizona on April 29.
April 11: Two days later, Tennessee had lost both of its big men with junior center Jonas Aidoo also entering the portal. He was Tennessee’s most improved player this season, earning Second Team All-SEC and All-Defensive teams honors after starting every game and averaging 11.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 24.9 minutes. Aidoo committed to Arkansas on April 29.
April 15: Eleven days after the portal exodus began, Tennessee got its first addition out of the portal with the commitment of Hofstra wing Darlinstone Dubar. Dubar started his career at Iowa State and averaged a career-high 17.8 points per game in 33 games as a junior last season, shooting 53.9% from the floor and 39.9% from the 3-point line. He also averaged 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 34.6 minutes per game.
April 25: Tennessee answered a big question in the post with the commitment of Ohio State center Felix Okpara. The 6-foot-11 big man averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for the Buckeyes last season and averaged 5.3 points and 5.0 rebounds over the last two years at Ohio State. He started 34 times in 35 games a sophomore last season, averaging 23.5 minutes per game. Okpara shot 58.6% from the field in his 70 games with the Buckeyes.
May 24: Tennessee landed its biggest target out of the portal in North Florida guard Chaz Lanier. The Vols beat out Kentucky and BYU for Lanier, the guard who was coming off of a breakout season. The 6-foot-4, 199-pound Nashville native who starred at North Florida last season, averaged 19.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 33.4 minutes per game, shooting 51.0% from the field and 44.0% from the 3-point line.
