Updating the left knee injury for Tennessee forward JP Estrella

A source confirmed to Volquest on Wednesday that the injury to Tennessee Basketball forward JP Estrella is a bone bruise and is not expected be a season-ending injury, as it was initially reported earlier Wednesday morning.

The redshirt sophomore injured his left knee late in the first half of the 91-66 win over Rice Monday night at Food City Center.

Rick Barnes said during his postgame appearance on The Vol Network that Estrella seemed “fine” but added that he did not have a definitive update on the redshirt sophomore’s injured left knee.

“All I can tell you is a left leg injury,” Barnes said on the game’s radio broadcast, “but we don’t know what that means. He seems fine, but we will wait and see.” 

Estrella went down with 1:26 left in the first half during a defensive possession and was helped off the floor with team trainers under each arm. He was ruled out at halftime and returned to the Tennessee bench in the second half with an ice pack and towel on the injured left leg.

“They don’t know what it is,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference. “All I could tell you is it’s a left leg injury. It looked like when that play happened, the guy went between his legs and it looked like, from what I could tell, maybe he hyperextended it.”

JP Estrella through three games: 17.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists per game

Estrella, who missed all but three games last season after under-going season-ending foot surgery last November, starred for Tennessee over the first three games this season, averaging 17.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 19.7 minutes per game off the bench.

He had four points and a rebound before leaving with the game against Rice.

“J.P. has been terrific,” Felix Okpara said after the game. “It is just sad to see that happen. We are there with him. We and the team are there for him and cheering him on. He definitely did some good things for us in the past three games. I think right now we just got to be there by his side and also focus on the season.”

Estrella scored a career-high 23 points and had 10 rebounds in the 99-66 win over North Florida last week. It was his second straight double-double, after he had 17 points and 11 rebounds against Northern Kentucky on November 8. He had 12 points and five rebounds in the season-opening win over Mercer on November 3.

Up Next: Tennessee vs. Tennessee State, Thursday, 7 p.m. ET

Tennessee hosts Tennessee State on Thursday in a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network+ at Food City Center. The Vols then go to Las Vegas next week for the Players Era Men’s Championship, facing Rutgers on Monday, No. 2 Houston on Tuesday and a third to-be-determined opponent on either Wednesday or Thursday.

Estrella, a former four-star recruit in the 2023 class, was limited during the summer before his sophomore season due to a lingering foot injury. The issue ended up requiring surgery last November that ended his season after just three games. He appeared in 25 games as a freshman in 2023-24, averaging 1.6 points and 0.8 rebounds in 5.0 minutes per game. 

“JP, we all hurt for him because he worked so hard to come back from the foot injury,” Barnes said. “And that was a freaky thing. I mean, during the game, I thought, I don’t know how you can— I mean, it was an inadvertent play, but the guy just kind of fell through his legs and his knee was locked.

“It’s one of those inadvertent things that happened. He’ll do everything he can to get back. And we’re just hoping that it’s nothing crazy, but other than maybe a hyper extended leg. But again, nobody wants to see him out there more than his teammates and coaches, because of how hard he’s worked his way back.”