The Tennessee Vols are dealing with an unfortunate injury as the calendar prepares to turn to March.

Vols forward JP Estrella missed Tennessee’s win over the Oklahoma Sooners this week due to a foot injury.

Estrella is a key player for Tennessee — certainly a player the Vols want on the court come tournament time.

VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs said Friday on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will that the concern factor over Estrella’s injury is “real”.

“The concern factor is real,” said Hubbs. “They’ve done all the testing, and they haven’t found anything there. But he’s dealing with soreness and a foot that cost him the end of last year. And that’s always a concern in basketball when you’re dealing with with a sore foot, and [he] had a stress fracture situation a year ago. So they will be cautious.

“Even though this game (against Vanderbilt) is really important, I think they will be mindful and cautious to try to be smart about it and manage him the best that they can manage him here. Because obviously in the postseason, they’ve got to have him on the floor in terms of an X factor. If JP cannot go, or is limited, Jalen Carey’s gotta show up, and he’s got to finish better at the rim. And I think DeWayne Brown’s got to continue to show up.”

Rick Barnes gives the latest on JP Estrella

Vols head coach Rick Barnes met with reporters Friday morning and he didn’t have much of an update on Estrella.

“I haven’t heard yet,” said Barnes. “They were doing some stuff with him yesterday on the treadmill. And I believe it will be a day-to-day thing from here on out, I would just guess.”

Earlier in the week, Barnes noted that Estrella is dealing with soreness that needs to be “quieted down”.

“I don’t think there’s any question it’s a concern for him,” said Barnes. “Feet problems are hard to get right, but based on where the screw was placed and all that, I probably shouldn’t be talking about it because Chad (Newman) knows it, but I don’t think that it’s a problem with the surgery itself. It’s just some soreness [that has] set in, and we just got to get it quieted down.”

There’s no question that Tennessee could use Estrella this weekend against Vanderbilt, but the Vols may be wise to hold him out so he can get healthy for the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

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