IU basketball transfer portal player profile: Tennessee center J.P. Estrella

Tennessee big man J.P. Estrella.

Indiana’s 2026-27 roster will be rebuilt this spring by second-year coach Darian DeVries, who will navigate the portal with executive director of basketball Ryan Carr and the Hoosier coaching staff.

Inside the Hall will examine some of the prospects who could make sense for the Hoosiers to pursue out of the portal. Up next: Tennessee center J.P. Estrella.

Previously: Markus Burton, Rowan Brumbaugh, Adam Olsen

Numbers to know

61 career games at Tennessee: 6.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 0.3 blocked shots in 12.5 minutes per game. Estrella shot 60.8 percent from the field and 64.8 percent from the free-throw line. He started 13 of the 61 games he appeared in for the Volunteers and, after playing only three games during the 2024-25 campaign, has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Background and potential fit

A 6-foot-11, 240-pound big man with ties to current IU assistant coach Rod Clark, Estrella signed with the Volunteers in the 2023 recruiting class out of Brewster Academy. He is a native of Scarborough, Maine. Estrella was ranked as the No. 61 player nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings and chose Tennessee over offers from Marquette, Iowa, Syracuse, Boston College, Cal, Duke, Illinois, Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, Miami (FL), Missouri, Notre Dame, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Wisconsin, among others.

As a true freshman in the 2023-24 season, Estrella only played double-figure minutes in two games, and his production was extremely limited. He played in 25 games for the Vols, averaging 1.6 points and 0.8 rebounds in five minutes per game while shooting 71.4 percent from the field.

More was expected out of Estrella ahead of the 2024-25 season, but an injury ended his season prematurely. He played in just three games before it was announced he would miss the remainder of the season due to a left-foot injury that required surgery.

As a redshirt sophomore in the 2025-26 season, Estrella grew into a more prominent role for Rick Barnes and Tennessee. After coming off the bench for the first half of the season, he joined the starting lineup on January 24 against Alabama and went on to start 13 of the team’s final 19 games.

Estrella is an effective post scorer who shot 60.4 percent on 2-pointers this past season and reached double figures 19 times. He was also one of the nation’s best offensive rebounders, finishing fourth in SEC play in offensive rebounding percentage (15.5). For the overall season, Estrella’s offensive rebounding percentage of 17.3 percent ranked eighth nationally.

It’s no secret that Indiana needs to have better size, rebounding and reliable post scoring on the roster next season. The Hoosiers began last season with Reed Bailey starting at the five, which didn’t pan out, and ultimately had to elevate an undersized Sam Alexis to the starting lineup. While Alexis played well and was an efficient post-scorer, he often lacked the size to match up against more formidable Big Ten frontlines.

The connection to Clark, who recruited Estrella to Tennessee, makes Estrella a name to monitor this spring in the portal. While he didn’t amass major shot blocking numbers, Estrella appears to fit the mold of the big man who can have success in the Big Ten far better than the formula Indiana tried in the 2025-26 season.

Highlights of Estrella

(Photo credit: University of Tennessee Athletics)

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