{"id":786025,"date":"2026-07-08T02:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786025\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T02:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:28:10","slug":"washington-focusing-on-defense-with-basketball-vols-white-uniforms-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786025\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington focusing on defense with basketball Vols; white uniforms revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennessee freshman forward Chris Washington Jr. wasted no time Tuesday afternoon in admitting his primary focus during his first few weeks with the Volunteers.<\/p>\n

“My defense,” Washington said in his first press conference since signing on April 16<\/a>. “The whole country knows I can score the ball. I’ve been working on my rotations and being right in the gaps.<\/p>\n

“It’s all about defense.”<\/p>\n

Defense is typically the name of the game for Tennessee newcomers under coach Rick Barnes, and the 6-foot-9, 200-pounder from Gainesville, Florida, is no exception. Washington split his high school career between The Villages Charter School in his home state as a freshman and sophomore and Providence Christian Academy in Murfreesboro the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

Both of his seasons at Providence Christian resulted in Division II-A state championships, with Washington averaging 18.0 points and 8.0 rebounds as a junior and 18.8 points and 9.4 rebounds his senior season. His two-year record there was 59-8.<\/p>\n

“He’s getting tested like any freshman would in college, but he’s been moving in stride,” Tennessee fifth-year senior forward and VCU transfer Christian Fermin said Tuesday. “His effort is impressive. He’s got scoring ability, and obviously his frame and his body has to come into what it’s going to be.<\/p>\n

“He’s going to be nice.”<\/p>\n

Washington’s success in Murfreesboro resulted in him being the state’s top prospect this past signing cycle, and he was the No. 52 recruit nationally on the 247Sports.com composite rankings.<\/p>\n

When asked about his scoring success, he said, “I can get to the rim. I can get to my spots, and I can catch and shoot.”<\/p>\n

Yet his 2,000-plus career points at the prep level mean very little these days in Knoxville, nor do his two state tournament MVP honors. Washington is hoping the defensive instruction and overall tutelage he is receiving from Barnes and his assistants will produce a more well-rounded player in the months and years ahead.<\/p>\n

“We’ve come a long way just from this first month,” Washington said. “I’m getting help from (Vols sophomore forward) DeWayne (Brown), and it’s been a blessing. I’m getting better day by day, and Coach Barnes is coaching me hard. I’m just stacking days.<\/p>\n

“I like the track record of guys Coach Barnes has put in the league. I want to be a pro, and I came to Tennessee because I feel like they can get me there. I know my time is going to come.”<\/p>\n

\"TennesseeTennessee Athletics photo \/ Tennessee redshirt sophomore receiver Braylon Staley displays the new white Adidas football uniforms.<\/p>\n

White uniforms<\/p>\n

Tennessee on Tuesday released the white Adidas uniforms that will be worn this upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

The Vols wear white uniforms on the road in football but for home games in basketball.<\/p>\n

(SIGN UP: Get the daily sports newsletter in your email box by clicking here)<\/a><\/p>\n

Wednesday’s reveal will be the “Summitt Blue” alternate uniforms of the women’s basketball and softball teams, while Thursday will wrap up this four-day unveiling<\/a> with the “Dark Mode”uniforms.<\/p>\n

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TennesseeTennessee Athletics photo \/ Tennessee junior guard and Wake Forest transfer Juke Harris wears the new white Adidas basketball uniforms.<\/p>\n

David Paschall<\/a><\/p>\n

dpaschall@timesfreepress.com<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

David Paschall has covered sports at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since 1999 and wrote for the Chattanooga Free Press in the nine years before that. David has mostly covered college athletics, with a focus on the University of Georgia from 2000 to 2019 and the University of Tennessee since 2020. He grew up in Chattanooga and is a graduate of the Baylor School and Auburn University. David has received multiple writing awards and has served as a Heisman Trophy voter since 2003. He has also worked in radio in Chattanooga and has been on the SEC Network’s “Classic Rewind” series since 2014. David and his wife, Kelly, have three children \u2014 Conner, Emily and Spencer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennessee freshman forward Chris Washington Jr. wasted no time Tuesday afternoon in admitting his primary focus during his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-786025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}