NCAA Basketball: Top 10 players to wear jersey No. 25 in 2023-24 season
By Joey Loose
5. Santiago Vescovi (Tennessee)
The brilliant guard from Uruguay, Vescovi mattered a great deal to basketball at Tennessee across the last five seasons. He started all but five games for the Volunteers over the last half decade, with varying contributions to a program that was largely successful during his tenure. Vescovi didn’t have the finest stats and figures in the final year of his career, but he was the complete package for Tennessee.
Vescovi’s final season was a step back from his efforts as a junior and senior, but he still managed to put up 6.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game in a more limited offensive impact. Other players like Dalton Knecht took up more of the slack on offense, though Vescovi remained one of the highest rated defensive players in the SEC. Those contributions helped take Tennessee to the Elite Eight to finish off his career.
You won’t see as many scoring highlights in this final season, though Vescovi did have a cool 21-point effort in the Volunteers’ loss to Kansas at the end of the Maui Invitational. He was a major part of a regular season title in the SEC, including double-digit scoring efforts in important wins over Alabama, Kentucky, and Ole Miss. Vescovi missed the Sweet Sixteen game, but ended his career one step shy of the Final Four, putting the bow of an impressive postseason run to tie up his time in Knoxville.