Vols basketball: Chris Darrington, opening a second scholarship for Tennessee

After an up-and-down season amid a rough patch of life, Tennessee guard Chris Darrington will transfer for his final season of eligibility.

UT announced Darrington's intentions to depart at the end of the spring semester on Friday, opening a second scholarship for next season's Vols.

“We appreciate all of Chris’ contributions both on and off the court this past year,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said in a statement. “We all wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

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The junior college product played one season in Knoxville after transferring from Vincennes (Ind) University, where he was a junior college All-American. He averaged 2.6 points in 8.4 minutes per game, playing in 25 of Tennessee's 35 games.

Darrington's time at Tennessee had highs and lows, but ended with mostly lows. The junior guard drew rave reviews for his play during UT's overseas tour, then suffered an ankle injury that limited him through preseason practices and early in the year.

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The Toledo, Ohio, native recorded a season-high 11 points and five assists in UT’s win over Lipscomb in December. But that was the high point and Darrington played only two combined minutes in Tennessee's final seven games.

“I’ve never had to endure something like this before,” Darrington said to USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee on Feb. 22. “I’ve just been trying to figure out ways I can positively affect the team when I do get opportunities to play. If you play basketball, you’re a competitor and you want to play. If you’re not playing, you’re not going to be as happy or feel as good about yourself. You want to play. You want to be out there.”

Darrington's basketball battles paired with the emotional pain of losing a close friend in a shooting in Toledo in January. He missed a couple days of practice to return home for the funeral. He returned to Knoxville struggling with not having basketball as the outlet it always had been for him previously.

“That’s what I’ve been dealing with,” Darrington said. “That’s probably been the toughest thing. When anything is going on, I always go to the gym. I can still go to the gym. But basketball was always my outlet.

“But where do you go when your outlet isn’t as intriguing of an outlet anymore?”

Tennessee has granted Darrington permission to contact other schools.

The Vols were slated to only have one scholarship opening next season after James Daniel III graduated. Now, they have two with Darrington's coming departure.

Barnes stressed the Vols have made signing a point guard to fill an open scholarship the “No. 1 priority.” He prefers a high school prospect, but is not against a grad transfer like Daniel was last season.

“That position is someone we want to come in here and make an immediate impact,” Barnes said. “That’s what we feel that we need to continue the development of our guys in the program.”

The Vols have pursued at least two players who could fit that mold in Memphis point guard Tyler Harris and California product James Akinjo, a former UConn signee.