Terrific Tennessee Tuesday: Jaylen Carey
The junior Vanderbilt transfer big had his best game as Vol Monday night vs. Rice.
No. 20 Tennessee picked up another win last to remain undefeated to begin the 2025-26 regular season with a 91-66 victory over former Tennessee basketball assistant coach Rob Lanier’s Rice Owls. Unfortunately, the biggest storyline coming out of the ball game is the injury status of budding star redshirt sophomore JP Estrella, who left the game in the first half after getting tangled up and falling awkwardly in a scuffle for a loose ball. As of this writing, there has been no official word on the severity of Estrella’s injury, but it goes without saying that all of Vol Nation’s fingers are crossed that the former blue-chip recruit gets good news on the injury front in the coming days.
With that being said, some positive storylines came out of the Vols’ win inside the Food City Center at Thompson-Boling Arena. One of which is that upperclassmen Jaylen Carey and Amaree Abram made the most of their opportunities Monday night.
With sophomore guard Bishop Boswell missing his second-straight game due to injury, Abram got the start at the 2 and played well, particularly on the defensive end for the Vols. Abram may have only gone 1-for-7 from the floor, but he added two steals, four boards, and four assists, too. He can be a streaky scorer for Tennessee if he is also able to contribute in other ways outside of shooting, like he did against the Owls.
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I suspected before the season that Vol fans would really like Carey. I suspect they’re going to really like him when the Vols play the Commodores twice this season. On the floor last night, though, Carey was a +20 in seventeen minutes of action, snagged five boards, and was four-of-five from the floor with zero personal fouls. With Estrella’s emergence and hope that he avoided a serious injury last night, Carey does not need to carry a heavy load for Tennessee to get to where they want to go this season. They need him to play like he did last night and continue to build off that, especially with a huge game against No. 1 Houston on the docket for next week. With a healthy Estrella, combined with that version of Carey, and Felix Okpara, too, who flashed some great passing last night, Tennessee’s frontcourt could be as deep as it’s been in a long time under Barnes.
After the game, the UTK Daily Beacon’s Trevor McGee tweeted out a Carey quote following the game, saying, “Last year in practice, I wasn’t going up against a lot of guys like this ... I do stand on we’re the best frontcourt in the country.” If Carey and Okpara are going to play like that and Cade Phillips is going to continue to defend at the level he has been through four games, the Vols certainly could have one of the best frontcourts in the country this season. GoVols247’s Ben McKee tweeted another postgame comment from Barnes, who said, “Jaylen has really been focused the last week or so. He knows we need him. I’m really proud of him.”
Delightful stuff.
Carey gave the Vols fits last season in their two meetings, where he nearly registered a double-double in both ball games. The hope is that the junior does the same thing to other conference foes this season – especially now with Estrella’s uncertain status.