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Per a KNS tweet, there is mutual interest between Tennessee and ECU transfer Jayden Gardner.
East Carolina transfer Jayden Gardner tells me he has talked with Tennessee and there's "great interest" on both sides.
— Mike Wilson (@ByMikeWilson) March 31, 2021
The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game last season. https://t.co/lEXIwZTAbz
Let me save you a clink on that link — it’s behind a paywall, so unless you’re a News-Sentinel subscriber, you can’t see it.
Gardner is a 6-foot-7 forward who has started 79 of his career 81 games. He led ECU last season in both points and rebounds per game at 18.9 and 9.2, respectively. I haven’t seen any film on him, but his career low in rebounds per game was last season with 8.3. That bodes well as a possible addition for the Vols as they’ve struggled, uhh... struggled... on the boards during the last two seasons.
He’s a career 50-percent shooter from the field during his three-ish seasons of ball at ECU, but the numbers seem to suggest, at 6-foot-7, he’s more of an old-school, undersized post rather than a wing player who can score from all three levels (inside, mid-range, 3-point range). He’s taken just 36 total 3-pointers in his career, making just nine for a cool 25-percent proficiency. I reckon it’s safe to say he’s not the deadeye, longball specialist that’s on every Tennessee’s wish list for this offseason. Oh well.
KNS article about mutual interest between 6-7, Jr. F Jayden Gardner/ Tennessee.
— // nichabod crane // (@_NicoSuave_) March 31, 2021
Started 79/ 81 games
Career 50-percent FG shooter but took a total six (6) 3s this season. Never made more than 4 in a year
PPG
16.3 (Fr) 19.7 (So) 18.3 (Sr)
RPG
8.5 (Fr),9.2 (So), 8.3 (Sr)
This is all top-layer, superficial stuff, but I wanted to get out the bare bones to you guys quickly and hopefully take a more granular look at his game in the next few days.