What Tennessee found in Jaylen Carey, DeWayne Brown at Syracuse

SYRACUSE — If nothing else, Rick Barnes found Tennessee Basketball’s best offensive combination in the post — at least for now — in the 62-60 loss at Syracuse Tuesday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge. 

It didn’t involved Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips, two veterans who are in their second seasons as starters for the Vols. It wasn’t redshirt sophomore JP Estrella, either, after he was ruled out by an ankle injury.

Instead it was Vanderbilt transfer forward Jaylen Carey, all 6-foot-8, 267 pounds of him, and DeWayne Brown, the 6-foot-8, 251-pound four-star freshman. 

“There is no doubt we know when they are on the floor,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference, “offensively that is our best frontline.” 

Up Next: No. 13 Tennessee vs. No. 14 Illinois, Saturday, Nashville

Carey was the best everything for Tennessee (7-2) Tuesday night. He scored a season-high 22 points on 10-for-22 shooting from the field and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. 

“(He) played hard,” Barnes said. “Maybe as hard as we’ve seen him play, trying to work on both ends. He’s a guy that is a problem for teams. I thought Jaylen really gave us a lot there. 

Okpara had two points on 1-for-6 shooting and committed three turnovers. Phillips was scoreless in 10 minutes. The two were a combined minus-22 in plus/minus.

“I think (Carey) should have gotten the ball more,” Barnes said, “because he’s not selfish, he’ll make the right play out of it.”

Estrella has been an offensive force in his own right at 12.0 points per game in seven games this season, but he didn’t play due to the ankle injury he suffered in the second half of the loss to Kanas last week in Las Vegas.

“Obviously,” Barnes said, “JP brings a whole different dynamic to our team.”

Brown scored four points to go with five rebounds and three assists at Syracuse. He played 22 minutes off the bench after not playing at all in Tennessee’s final two games last week in Las Vegas, in the win over Houston and the loss to Kansas. 

“The biggest mistake I made in Vegas was not giving him enough minutes,” Barnes said of Brown. “Tonight, I think is going to really bode well for him going forward.” 

Jaylen Carey had 24 points in final two games at Players Era Festival

Carey’s breakout performance came in the win over Houston last week in Las Vegas, when he had 13 points and eight rebounds. He followed it up with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to Kansas a day later, as Tennessee finished third in the Players Era Festival. 

His 28 points scored in three games in Las Vegas came after he scored just 29 over the first five games of the season. 

Carey averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game at Vanderbilt last season. But he was at his best against Tennessee, with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists in Vanderbilt’s loss at Tennessee in February, after he had 14 points and 10 boards in the Vandy’s win over the Vols in Nashville in January.   

What Carey and Brown showed Tuesday night is what Tennessee coaches have seen since the early parts of the summer. 

“They practiced together,” Barnes said. “We are just waiting on both of them to get where they need to be defensively. That has been the biggest key.”