Tennessee forward Christian Fermin suffers hand injury, sidelined for summer practices

Christian Fermin suffered a left hand injury and will miss the remainder of Tennessee basketball summer practice, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Volquest on Thursday. The 6-foot-10, 225-pound Fermin suffered the injury Monday and hand surgery Thursday. He will miss summer practices, but is expected to be healthy well before preseason practices and the regular season. Fermin played in just four games last season after taking a leave of absence from the Rams. It was reported in March that Fermin was away from the team while dealing with a personal matter. Fermin played in 86 games over the previous three seasons at VCU, averaging a career-best 5.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 21.4 minutes per game during the 2023-24 season, starting all 38 games for the Rams. Fermin was part of a basketball roster overhaul for coach Rick Barnes. He was one of eight transfers. Tennessee added guards in Terrence Hill Jr. (VCU), Juke Harris (Wake Forest), Dai Dai Ames (Cal) and Tyler Lundblade (Belmont) and forwards Miles Rubin (Loyola Chicago), Braedan Lue (Kennesaw State) and Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame). Hill and Fermin played together at VCU. Tennessee also signed four high school prospects in its 2026 recruiting class. Four-star small forward Chris Washington Jr. was the latest, joining four-star small forward Ralph Scott, three-star guard Manny Green and three-star point guard Marquis Clark.