James returning for fifth season with basketball Vols

May 31—Many five-star basketball signees only stay in college for one season.

Tennessee is getting Josiah-Jordan James for five.

The 6-foot-6, 224-pound guard from Charleston, South Carolina, announced Wednesday that he will use the extra year of eligibility allowed by the NCAA during the outbreak of the coronavirus in 2020. James, a consensus top-25 prospect in the 2019 signing class, has played in 108 career games with 87 starts for the Volunteers, averaging 9.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 27.9 minutes per contest.

James recently went through the NBA Draft evaluation process, which included participation in the NBA G League Combine and individual workouts with several NBA teams.

"I'm excited and blessed to be able to represent Tennessee for one more year," James said in a statement on the university's athletic web site. "After last season, I talked with the coaching staff about how important it was for me to go through the draft evaluation process and get NBA feedback, since I wasn't able to do that last offseason.

"I also knew that the coaches here had to build a full roster for this year and prepare for the possibility that I might not be back. I love the pieces they have put together, and I am eager to join this new group of teammates for one more run."

James worked through knee and ankle injuries last season, appearing in 24 of 36 games on a 25-11 team that reached the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 before being upset by Florida Atlantic. He had averages of 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds and shot a career-best 86.1% from the free-throw line.

On his Twitter account, James posted, "One more year," and he included a video of the late Kobe Bryant from the 2009 NBA Finals. After his Los Angeles Lakers took a 2-0 series lead on the Orlando Magic, Bryant was asked in a news conference why he wasn't smiling and said, "The job's not finished. Is the job finished? I don't think so."

James is the second Vols player to announce his return for a fifth season, joining fellow guard Santiago Vescovi. Tennessee is also bringing back experienced juniors Jonas Aidoo, Jahmai Mashack and Zakai Zeigler, sophomore Tobe Awaka and redshirt freshmen Freddie Dilione V and D.J. Jefferson.

The Vols are bringing in three players via the NCAA transfer portal — guards Jordan Gainey (USC Upstate) and Dalton Knecht (Northern Colorado) and forward Chris Ledlum (Harvard) — and three high-school signees — guard Cameron Carr and forwards J.P. Estrella and Cade Phillips.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.

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