One of the most perplexing parts of Tennessee’s up-and-down 2022-23 basketball season has been senior guard Josiah-Jordan James.

After being an extremely important piece of the Vols' 2022 SEC Championship run and averaging 10.3 points and nearly six rebounds per game last year, James played very sparingly in the current season until conference play began in January due to an off-season injury. He eventually began playing significant minutes but in total, he's played in just 16 of UT's 28 games thus far in 2022-23. James was averaging 9.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest before he went down with an ankle injury against Vanderbilt on February 8th.

Since that in-season injury, James has been deemed "day-to-day" by Coach Rick Barnes and he even warmed up fully with the team before Tennessee's loss to Texas A&M but he hasn't yet played. ESPN announcer Jimmy Dykes even mentioned during the TAMU game broadcast that he thought JJJ would play that night after viewing him in warmups but James ultimately didn't.

James' injury has been made worse by the fact that freshman forward Julian Phillips has also been out with a hip flexor since the Missouri game on February 11th. But James, at least, could apparently be back very soon.

James reportedly said that he'll "be out there" against South Carolina on Saturday while he was speaking to the Big Orange Tipoff Club on Wednesday. I certainly hope that's true, but color me skeptical.

And the real question is this: When James finally does return, how much of an impact will he really have on Tennessee's play? Obviously, the recent stretch for the Vols has been nothing short of abysmal outside of a surprising victory over Alabama. Can James come back and help UT play with any amount of real consistency?

During the final eight games of the 2021-22 season, James played possibly the best basketball of his entire career. He averaged 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and shot 46% from three-point range during that stretch. If James could make a similar late-season surge this year, that could be the catalyst for a strong postseason run. If he can't do that, it may be nothing but another early NCAA Tournament exit for Rick Barnes' squad.

Regardless, we'll find out soon enough if James will actually be back and how he'll play when he does return. Tennessee is set to tipoff against South Carolina at 6 pm ET on Saturday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena.

Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel and George Walker IV-USA TODAY Sports