Rick Barnes not worried Josiah-Jordan James scoring slump: 'Josiah will be fine'

Through 16 games, Josiah-Jordan James is one of four Tennessee players averaging 10 or more points a game. He’s fourth in scoring for the Vols, at 10.1 points per game, and has scored in double figures eight times. 

“Really from start to finish,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said on Saturday afternoon, “he still would be considered our most consistent player.”

The last four games have been a struggle, at least in scoring, for the redshirt senior wing. 

He had just four points in 27 minutes in the 85-79 win at Georgia on Saturday, after scoring only three points in 33 minutes in the 77-72 loss at Mississippi State on Wednesday. James had eight points against Ole Miss on January 6 and eight against Norfolk State four days earlier.

In those four games, he’s 1-for-14 from the 3-point line and 10-for-34 from the field. 

“Guys go through it,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference in Athens. 

Josiah-Jordan James: 10.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals in 30.4 minutes per game

James has helped the Vols in other ways. He leads the team in defensive rebounds (85), is second on the team in total rebounding average (6.9), is second in steals (21) and third in assists (36).

His scoring has gone cold, though.

He had a season-high 23 points in the win over North Carolina State on December 16, going 5-for-7 at the 3-point line. Over a five-game span from North Carolina on November 29 to Tarleton State on December 21, James scored 83 points, making 27 shots from the field and 11 threes. 

“He just struggled on the offensive end,” Barnes said after the win at Georgia. “ … As long as he’ll take good shots, and I thought for the most part tonight, his shots were good.

“Then I thought he started pressing, trying to drive the ball, getting himself in some trouble that he shouldn’t get himself in.”

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee vs. Florida, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

It’s been a more extended slump for Jordan Gainey, the USC Upstate transfer wing who averaged 11.6 points and made 15 threes over the first seven games of the season. Since then, he’s averaging 4.4 points per game, is 6-for-27 from the 3-point line and hasn’t scored in 23 minutes over his last two games.

“I’ve seen shooters go through it,” Barnes said on Friday, “and (he’s) probably trying too hard and we want him to shoot it when he’s open. But he doesn’t have to force anything. He doesn’t have to do that because he can do other things. But that part he’ll snap out of that. It’s just a matter of when.”

But Barnes painted the slumps as a positive, saying it’s “exciting” to think about what this Tennessee team can look like if the Vols can put it all together. 

“That’s what January is about,” Barnes said. “And Josiah will be fine, but the fact is we’ve got guys on our team where we can get into our bench and there’s a lot of teams in our league would love to have some of the guys off our bench.”