SAD Ending Vescovi got banished from the team voting……

Rick Barnes informed on Wednesday that the Vols will be without one more starter than expected for Saturday’s exhibition game against Michigan State.Santiago Vescovi will miss Saturday’s game for Tennessee because he needs to return to Uruguay for personal reasons.

According to Head Coach Rick Barnes, Vescovi’s grandmother is very ill and not doing well, thus he is heading home to be with his family.Barnes did not say how long Vescovi will be absent from the squad.Without Vescovi, Tennessee will be missing its complete backcourt from the previous season, with Zakai Zeigler currently rehabbing from a ruptured ACL.

According to Barnes, Zeigler has been practicing more and even said that he expected him.

in East Lansing, Michigan, at 3:30 P.M. EST on the Big Ten Network. All proceeds for the game will be donated to help the relief efforts from the wildfires in Maui. Tennessee will play in the Maui Invitational this season. After the exhibition, the Vols next game will count. On November 6th, Tennessee will open its regular season campaign at Thompson-Boling Arena against Tennessee Tech.

Santiago Vescovi has had a number of memorable accomplishments in his time in Knoxville. The Tennessee Volunteers’ star guard will reach another one on Saturday afternoon as soon as the Vols and Vanderbilt Commodores tip off around 5:00 pm ET.

According to Tennessee Athletics, Vescovi will surpass Allan Houston (1989-1993) and Chris Lofton (2004-2008) for the most starts in program history on Saturday against Vanderbilt.

Vescovi, who hails from Montevideo, Uruguay, came to Tennessee as a mid-term enrollee during the 2019-2020 season after attending the NBA Global Academy in Australia.  He wasted little time in making an impression, scoring 18 points as a starter in his first career action against LSU on January 4, 2020. 

Since then, Vescovi etched his name in both Tennessee and SEC record books.  In Tennessee’s win over Alabama last weekend, Vescovi passed Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins to reach ninth on the SEC all-time list for made three pointers with 306.  He’s one of four Tennessee players ever to reach 1000 points, 300 assists, and 150 steals, joining C.J. Watson, Brandon Wharton, and Fred Jenkins.

Vescovi has been a part of some very memorable wins in Knoxville.  He tallied a game-high 17 points as the Vols beat Texas A&M 65-50 to win their first SEC tournament title in 43 years in 2022.  Vescovi also delivered 14 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and two steals in last year’s 65-52 win over Duke to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

After becoming Tennessee’s new “iron man” on Saturday, Vescovi will look to help the Vols make it all the way to somewhere they never have before – the Final Four.