It’s official.
Tennessee made another splash in the transfer portal last week, grabbing a commitment from forward Igor Milicic. On Thursday, the former Charlotte 49er signed with the Volunteers to make things official.
The 6-10 sharpshooter chose Tennessee over interest from Baylor and Nebraska. Milicic initially began his college career at Virginia before transferring to Charlotte, where he scored 12.8 points per game last season.
“We are excited Igor has decided to join the Volunteers,” Rick Barnes said in a statement. “He is a talented player who has received excellent coaching throughout his career, both in college and in Europe, including learning from his father, Igor Sr., who is one of the best in the business.”
Although Milicic stands in at 6-10, 225 pounds, he’s not your typical big man. Milicic is a capable offensive player, complete with ball-handling ability and shooting skills. He holds a 35 percent mark from three-point range for his career, and connected on 37.6 percent of his shots from long range last season.
That length and shooting will help Tennessee replace some of the production vacated by Dalton Knecht.
“A versatile competitor, Igor has an impressive, unique and polished skill set that we think will translate well to the SEC,” Barnes continued. “He is a quality 3-point shooter and superb defensive rebounder with big-time upside. Igor possesses invaluable experience on the international level with the Polish National Team and he has improved every year as a collegian. We feel he will fit in well at Tennessee, both on and off the court.”
Despite not being a true “big,” Milicic will also help replace some of the size vacated by the departure of Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka. He’ll bring a different flavor to the table, kind of similar to what Tennessee will get in 6-8 Hofstra transfer Darlinstone Dubar. Rick Barnes is going to have a ton of shooting in his starting five, and it will be interesting to see how all of these pieces fit together.
Tennessee still has three open scholarships available. They need another guard, and they’re hot in pursuit of North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier. That’s the next domino to fall — whether or not he ends up in Knoxville remains to be seen.