By Ryan Cloud
Tennessee Weekly
When Jonas Aidoo stepped off the court on Tuesday, he did so after having a career night in front of the Vol faithful. The 6’ 11” forward from Durham, North Carolina tallied 29 points and 11 rebounds in a 74-56 victory over Georgia Southern (0-10).
The outing is the third consecutive game where Aidoo has performed at a high level. In an 86-79 win over Illinois, Aidoo put up 14 points and grabbed seven boards. In Tennessee’s one-sided victory over George Mason, the big man scored 17 points and brought down eight rebounds.
While the past three games have been against lesser opposition, with Illinois being the exception, Aidoo has proven that he has the potential to be one of the best legit big men Tennessee has had on the court since the days of Jarnell Stokes or Wayne Chism.
With that said, it will be Aidoo’s job to solve Tennessee’s “big” problem that they had against the likes of Purdue, Kansas and North Carolina. Each of those three teams had next-level bigs that dominated the Vols in the paint. Purdue’s Zach Edey tallied 23 points and 10 rebounds against Tennessee. Against Kansas, Hunter Dickenson took it to the next level with 17 points and 20 rebounds. North Carolina’s Armando Bacot finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
While each of the aforementioned forwards are elite college basketball players, it will be up to Aidoo to contain those types of forwards. There shouldn’t be an issue for the remainder of the nonconference schedule with Tennessee finishing the year with North Carolina State (7-2) and Tarleton State (8-2).
Once the team enters SEC play and beyond, Aidoo has to bring a defensive presence that stifles opposing forwards.
The Vols have the potential to do great things this year. Tennessee has the guards to handle the backcourt, but Aidoo has to be the backbone of the frontcourt against elite level competition. That’s the only way the Vols have a shot at making a deep run in the tournament.
We believe he has the ability to do it, too.
Ryan Cloud is a former four-time Kentucky Press Association award winner as well as the founder of Vols Weekly. Follow him on X at @RyanCloudSports
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