Durham’s Jonas Aidoo spent prep year in Charlotte. He led Tennessee to NCAA Tournament win

The Tennessee Volunteers dominated inside the Spectrum Center, and a born-and-bred North Carolinian was a big part of it.

Junior forward Jonas Aidoo, a Durham native who earned second team All-SEC honors this year, graduated from Durham Voyager Academy in 2020. He reclassified, after averaging 11.3 points and six rebounds per game as a senior, so he could spend an extra prep year at Liberty Heights Athletic Institute in Charlotte.

The 7-footer had grown five inches just before his sophomore year of high school in Durham. He was relatively unknown as a recruit upon graduating from high school, but blossomed into a top-25 prospect during that 2020-21 season at Liberty Heights.

As a junior for No. 2-seeded Tennessee (25-8), Aidoo starts in the middle and has become one of the best big men in the SEC. He scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds as Tennessee rolled past Saint Peter’s in an 83-49 pasting, the last of four NCAA Tournament games Thursday night at Spectrum Center.

“Staying aggressive at all times,” said Aidoo, who had 13 of his 15 points in the first half. “Coach (Rick Barnes) has been preaching that, and we’ve been working on that a lot in practice, too. So just doing what we do in practice into the game.”

Dalton Knecht, the SEC Player of the Year, led the Volunteers with 19 points in a game that they controlled from the moment Aidoo won the tip and had a block within the first minute.

“We think he’s one of the best players in the country,” Knecht told The Observer about his team’s center.

Tennessee secured a Saturday date with Texas (21-12), which pulled away from Colorado State in a 56-44 win after holding the Rams to just 11 points in the first half. The Longhorns went on a 25-3 run after the first under-16 timeout and held off Colorado State throughout the second half.

It’s been another banner year for Tennessee, which claimed its sixth outright regular season SEC title and 11th overall. This is the Volunteers’ sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, matching the longest such streak (2006-11) in program history. Tennessee is one of six schools — along with Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Michigan State and Purdue — with an active streak of at least six appearances in the “Big Dance.”

“I know (Texas is) gonna be very well-prepared,” said Barnes, who grew up in Hickory — and coached the Longhorns from 1998-2015. “I’ve got great respect for my time at the University of Texas, and I’ve got dear friends that they’ll be friends until the day I die. Like I said, great relationships with much of that staff, but I’ve been gone nine years, and I’m a Tennessee Volunteer.”

Whether it was from fans of their next opponent or themselves, Spectrum Center’s stands had quite the orange look as the Volunteers took the floor following the conclusion of Texas’ earlier win. The crowd roared as the Volunteers dashed out from the left side of the arena in their orange- and white-striped sweat pants.

Tennessee left its locker room with rap music blaring throughout the tunnel, so loudly that the sounds audibly reached the area where Colorado State was holding its postgame news conference. Spectrum Center employees frantically signaled to turn down the volume — but the music only got louder, with the jubilant Volunteers singing along as they marched toward the court.

That energy was palpable right away. Not even 30 seconds after tip, Knecht opened the scoring with an open 3-pointer. He threw down a dunk later in the first half.

Aidoo’s efforts were evident early. The center provides a strong interior presence for Tennessee, and his confidence continues growing as he has developed an ability to pick apart defenses and work with the ball down low.

“(Aidoo) brings a calming presence,” said sophomore forward Tobe Awaka, who finished with eight points. “A hiccup, somebody gets back cut, anything like that, he’s right there to block the shot.”

Aidoo bobbed his head a bit as he walked into Tennessee’s locker room after the game and repeatedly snapped his fingers.

He played an extra year of high school in Charlotte, and it turned him from a little-known recruit to a top player in the state of North Carolina.

And on Saturday, he’ll have another chance to grace the floor in the Queen City, looking to propel his Volunteers into the Sweet 16.