KNOXVILLE - Tennessee's returning basketball players saw the numbers James Daniel III posted in three seasons at Howard University and naturally had some assumptions about the graduate transfer guard who joined the Volunteers this summer.
"I thought he was going to come and shoot the ball," sophomore forward Grant Williams said last week.
Daniel led the nation with 27.1 points per game at Howard in 2015-16 and was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player of the year. He missed most of last season with an ankle injury and transferred to Tennessee for his final year of eligibility.
When Tennessee tips off in the Battle 4 Atlantis against 19th-ranked Purdue at noon today in the Bahamas, it will be a chance for Daniel to display the transformation he has made against some of the nation's top competition.
After Purdue, the Volunteers (2-0) will play two more games against a field that includes No. 2 Arizona, No. 5 Villanova, Southern Methodist, Western Kentucky, North Carolina State and Northern Iowa.
Daniel, who is known as "J-Byrd" by his teammates, has attempted only five shots in the Vols' first two games while dishing out 12 assists. Including the two exhibition games, Daniel has 20 assists and no turnovers so far this year.
He has yet to score in double figures like he did every night at Howard, but Daniel did reach 10 assists in Tennessee's 84-53 win over High Point last week.
Fellow guard Lamonte Turner acknowledged it was hard to envision someone with Daniel's scoring reputation adapting to a distribution role so quickly.
"But Coach (Rick Barnes) was on him about it, telling him that this isn't the MEAC conference and you're not going to lead us in scoring," Turner said. "J-Byrd just kind of bought in, and he's been doing everything that Coach has been asking and it's working out."
Daniel's transition also has required him to learn a new defensive mindset. At Howard he played in a matchup zone, but Barnes relentlessly preaches high-intensity man-to-man defense.
It's a big adjustment, said Daniel, who believes his scoring ability will be called upon again at some point.
"I'm just trying to do what Coach wants me to do right now," he said. "But they'll come. I know there will be a time where Coach needs me to go get one, and I'll show you what I can do."
For now, he and his teammates are enjoying the early returns on Daniel's evolving game.
"He came in with a good mentality," Williams said. "He came in with a mentality of getting each other better and winning. On his visit he said, 'All I want to do is win, Coach.' At first maybe he was taking shots that he took back at his school where he was the guy and everything like that. Now he's doing a good job being our point guard, and that's what we need."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.