Tennessee Basketball: An in-depth look at Volunteers 2020-21 roster
Santiago Vescovi – 6’3” Sophomore Point Guard
Vescovi only got the opportunity to play in 19 games last season, because of his late (December 28th) arrival to Tennessee’s campus, due to his previous commitment to the NBA Global Academy in Australia. He wasn’t cleared to compete in games until Jan 3rd, which caused him to miss out on key non-conference match-ups. He finished the season averaging 10.7 points, 3.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 30.1 minutes per game.
I honestly wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from Vescovi, when he first trotted onto the court in his collegiate debut against LSU (which was also Tennessee’s first conference game of the season.) but I have to admit that he really impressed me in the contest (despite the nine turnovers), and the contests that followed.
He is a guard that likes to mix things up when he attacks the paint, and always forces his teammates to stay engaged. He has the ability to turn the corner after patiently coming off ball-screens, and use his natural soft touch to score around the rim.
If he discovers that he is too far under the basket to put up a shot, he is able to zip crisp one-handed passes out to guards on the perimeter. His ability to look teammates off, and continuously confuse defenders is key.
Last season, defenders normally expected the ball to be delivered to the man that he was staring down in the right or left corner (I’ll use Lamonte Turner for example), but instead it would go to the man on the right or left-wing (Jordan Bowden), who would get a great look at a three.
When defenders sprint to close out on him behind the arc, without trying to slow themselves down, he gives a convincing pump fake and steps back before launching a three (shot 36.0% for the season). I think that because he doesn’t take a dramatic step backward, after completing the pump fake, he is able to get into his shot quicker, and not allow his defenders to recover. He clearly understands that in some cases, a small efficient step is something you should try to make do with.
When he is in transition, he loves to euro step around his opponents, and his attention to detail often causes him to receive positive results at the rim. It may look insanely slow to most spectators, but he always makes sure that the first big step he takes, when he is closer to the basket, causes defenders to overcommit to one side, which allows him to comfortably euro step around them when the time is right.
He is also able to do this by making sure that his head is up the entire time, his body is squared up to the rim, and he is slightly showing the ball, to get his defenders to believe that he will go up on a particular side (the left side for instance, when he really intends to go up on the right side).
The problem that plagued Vescovi a bit last season was his commitment to trying to fit the ball into tight windows. Passing the ball out to someone on the perimeter is one thing, but attempting to make a difficult pass into a clogged lane, and/or to a player that isn’t open is another. He had seven games last season, where he committed 5 or more turnovers, and that was one of the main problems that attributed to it. Fortunately for the Vols, they were still able to win four of those seven games, which was good news for Vescovi.