Rick Barnes updates the status of Tennessee's Felix Okpara, Amaree Abram

The status of Tennessee basketball’s Felix Okpara will be determined during practice Friday afternoon as the senior center continues to deal with a left calf injury after missing the last two games.

“We’ll see when we practice,” head coach Rick Barnes said before the workout. “We’ll see. He hadn’t done anything. Last night when I left, he said he was feeling a little bit better, but it’ll be based on if he does anything today in practice.”

Tennessee (16-6, 6-3 SEC) goes to Kentucky (16-7, 7-3) on Saturday for an 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The initial SEC Availability Report will be updated Friday night and the pregame availability report will be updated Saturday evening.

Barnes also updated the status of transfer guard Amaree Abram, who missed the Ole Miss game with flu-like symptom.

“He hasn’t been back,” Barnes said. “I think he’s supposed to be back today, but he didn’t practice. Obviously didn’t play (against Ole Miss). He wasn’t around us. We kept him kind of quarantined from everybody.”

Barnes said after the 84-66 win over Ole Miss Tuesday night that Okpara was “progressing” with the injury, but he was unsure of his timetable for return.

“Chad (Newman) told me today he was feeling better today,” Barnes said. “I asked him, ‘How is he feeling?’ He said he thought he was making a little progress today.

“I can’t tell you when (Okpara will return), but that is the honest answer because that is what Chad told me right before the game. … He said, ‘He has had a good day today.’”

Felix Okpara averaging 6.8 points, 5.8 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per game

Barnes said on Saturday, after the win over Auburn, that Okpara “has some calf problems” after getting kicked in the leg in Tennessee’s win at Georgia last week. He added that it became an issue for Okpara Friday night.

“It was after the Georgia game,” Barnes said at the time, “he really got kicked there or whatever. But it was a calf.”

Okpara was a late addition to the SEC Availability Report before the 77-69 win over Auburn on Saturday and was ruled out during pregame.

“Fe tried everything to get ready,” Barnes said, “but he couldn’t do it.”

Okpara in 20 games this season is averaging 6.8 points and 5.9 rebounds in a career-high 26.5 minutes per game.

He had six points and a game-high 11 rebounds in the 86-85 win at Georgia on Wednesday, starting and playing 35 minutes. He played 34 minutes in the win at Alabama on January 24, finishing with five points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

Tennessee starting DeWayne Brown, J.P. Estrella in post

Okpara had started 64 games in a row, including all 56 games during his Tennessee career. The only game he had previously missed was due to illness during his time at Ohio State, when he was sidelined for a December game against New Orleans in 2023.

He averaged 7.1 points and 6.4 rebounds last season, his first at Tennessee. The Lagos, Nigeria, native transferred to UT after two seasons at Ohio State. 

During its two games without Okpara, Tennessee has started freshman forward DeWayne Brown and redshirt sophomore forward J.P. Estrella and has brought Jaylen Carey off the bench. The trio combined for 31 points, 17 rebounds and six assists against Auburn and 21 points and 22 rebounds against Ole Miss on Tuesday.

“It just shows how strong we are,” Carey said of the production on Monday. “What we do every day in practice, it shows in the game. Just doing it more consistently is a big emphasis.”