What Rick Barnes said about Jonas Aidoo as Tennessee basketball hosts Arkansas to open SEC

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Rick Barnes didn’t see Jonas Aidoo’s decision to transfer coming in April.

Eight months later, the Tennessee basketball coach is seeing Aidoo come back to Knoxville as an Arkansas Razorback.

“He’s there, we’re here and it’s about competition now,” Barnes said Friday.

The No. 1 Vols (13-0) are set to face Aidoo, who played three seasons at UT, when they host Arkansas (11-2) on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, ESPN). Aidoo transferred from Tennessee to Arkansas following an All-SEC season as a sophomore. He is averaging 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in an injury-hampered season.

The 6-foot-11 Aidoo averaged 11.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game as a junior at Tennessee.

“Jonas, really, we loved him when he was here, what he did and loved his growth,” Barnes said.

Jonas Aidoo playing for Arkansas at Tennessee part of portal landscape

Tennessee had four players enter the portal following its Elite Eight run last season. Aidoo was the only one that caught Barnes by surprise.

“Yeah because he had told everybody he was fine,” Barnes said.

Fine turned into entering the transfer portal April 11 and committing to Arkansas on April 29, which has led to Saturday’s matchup between a player and his former program.

“We appreciate what Jonas did from while he was here, but you all know the landscape of where we are in intercollegiate athletics,” Barnes said. “You’re going to see more of that, obviously, as time goes on, when guys leave and go other places for various reasons sometimes.”

Barnes indicated at the Big Orange Caravan in Chattanooga in May that Aidoo “felt like he may want to play a different style, a different way.”

Aidoo’s final game at Tennessee was lousy. He was scoreless in a season-low 10 minutes and committed three fouls against Purdue and All-American Zach Edey in UT’s 72-66 loss to miss the program’s first Final Four. He did not play for the final 16:59.

After the season, guard Freddie Dilione V transferred to Penn State, guard D.J. Jefferson went to Longwood and forward Tobe Awaka landed…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/rick-barnes-said-jonas-aidoo-171943705.html

Author : Knox News | The Knoxville News-Sentinel

Publish date : 2025-01-03 17:19:00

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