Tennessee Basketball updates the status of JP Estrella for Illinois

Tennessee Basketball associate head coach Justin Gainey didn’t have an update for JP Estrella’s ankle injury before practice Friday morning. The redshirt sophomore missed the 62-60 loss at Syracuse Tuesday night with a right ankle injury and remains day to day.

“No update to this point,” Gainey said. “So just kind of day to day.”

Tennessee (7-2) faces Illinois (6-2) Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, in an 8 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN.

Estrella was a limited participant in Friday afternoon’s practice at Food City Center. Gainey said he did not practice on Thursday. He also missed Monday’s practice, before Tennessee’s trip to Syracuse.

“I thought, although he didn’t practice with us (on Thursday), he was in great spirits,” Gainey said. “Very vocal in practice and it’s moving around a little bit. So we’ll see. But regardless, we got to be ready with whoever comes out there and improve on that performance from the other day.” 

JP Estrella injured his right ankle against Kansas in Las Vegas

Estrella suffered in the final game of the Players Era Festival against Kansas on Wednesday. He later returned to the game after receiving medical attention on the bench. 

When asked after the 81-76 loss to the Jayhawks about his ankle, Estrella replied by only saying it felt good.

Estrella returned from a knee injury to start the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas last week, scoring 10 points in 10 minutes in an 85-60 win over Rutgers.

He had eight points and five rebounds in 13 minutes in the 76-73 win over No. 3 Houston on Tuesday, then 10 points in nine minutes in the 81-76 loss to Kansas on Wednesday.

Estrella missed just one game with the bone bruise injury in his knee that he suffered against Rice on November 17. The initial timeline for return was “a couple weeks,” according to Rick Barnes, but Estrella returned earlier than expected.

“I told our staff that I was going to play in this tournament no matter what,” Estrella said last week. “They told me a couple weeks, but I knew I was going to play.”

JP Estrella suffered bone bruise in left knee on November 17

Estrella crumpled to the court in considerable pain when he suffered the knee injury in the 91-66 win over Rice, before having to be helped off the floor. It was reported a day later that he had suffered a bone bruise.

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.

“I sat out enough last year,” Estrella said in Las Vegas. “I’m done sitting out and ready to get this team rolling.”