NCAA Basketball: Kansas, Purdue, Marquette, and Tennessee takeaways from Maui Invitational

4th place – Tennessee Volunteers

Positive takeaway: Transfers have become the best players

Tennessee has been viewed as a big offseason winner of the transfer portal, landing Dalton Knecht and Jordan Gainey. The original hope was that they’d be good role players to add to the backcourt depth and give more of a scoring pop. They’ve been more than that, with the transfers leading the team in scoring on the season.

Knecht scored 46 points in three games, including 17 against Syracuse in the opener. Gainey had 15 points vs Purdue, including some key shots. More importantly, they haven’t been negatives on the defensive end, which was the main concern moving up from the mid-major level. They’ve been key pieces for the Vols and that should continue going forward.

Negative takeaway: Both Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi have taken steps back

Knecht and Gainey have effectively taken over for last year’s backcourt duo of Zeigler and Vescovi, who were the top returning players on this roster. Both players have had slow starts, though Vescovi did have 21 points in the loss to Kansas.

Ziegler, on the other hand, was borderline unplayable. He scored just 14 points in three games and had more turnovers (11) than assists (8). He still leads the team in passing on the season and remains their best defender. But for Tennessee to fulfill its potential as a Final Four contender, they need more from their junior ball-handler.