KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball finished off the calendar year with a wire-to-wire victory over South Carolina State, 105-54, Tuesday night at Food City Center.
The triumph, which featured a team-high 21 points from senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, gave No. 19/20 Tennessee (10-3) its 44th straight non-conference home win to break the school record that stood for over 76 years. The program also registered its highest point total since Jan. 15, 2019—nearly seven full years ago—and its sixth-largest margin of victory in the shot-clock era (1985-2026).
The Volunteers conceded just two made field goals in the first 11 minutes of the game, forcing a dozen South Carolina State (1-14) misses during that time, as they built a 19-7 advantage. The Bulldogs then connected on four of their next nine attempts and cut their deficit, 28-21, with 4:26 left in the half.
Tennessee, however, soon answered with an 8-0 burst in just 89 seconds, capped with a 3-pointer from Gillespie, to make it 36-21 with 2:47 on the timer. The lead reached 16 points, 41-25, at the break, as the home team shot 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from the floor and conceded a 30.0 percent (9-of-30) ledger at the other end.
The Volunteers opened the second frame with a 9-0 surge in the opening 100 seconds—that made it 12 straight points extending to the stretch run of the first stanza—and doubled up the Bulldogs, 50-25, with 18:20 left.
Aided by a possession in which it grabbed seven offensive rebounds and concluded it with a Gillespie 3-pointer, Tennessee went on a 17-2 run in 4:10 to go up by 40, 72-32, with 11:48 to go. The cushion ballooned to 45 points, 79-34, just 3:23 later. It reached 49, 88-39, with 6:06 remaining, at which point the Volunteers had a 45-12 edge on the glass.
The final margin of 51, which came via a 3-pointer by senior guard Amaree Abram with 34 ticks left, was the largest of the night. Tennessee scored 64 points in the second half, its most ever in a stanza under 11th-year head coach Rick Barnes and the co-fifth-most in a frame in program history.
Gillespie’s 21 points, 14 of which were in the first half, came on a 7-of-12 clip from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 ledger at the line. He added a game-high eight assists and had zero turnovers in 28 minutes of action.
Forward Nate Ament produced 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. A fellow freshman, guard Amari Evans, set career highs in points (14), rebounds (five), made field goals (five), made 3-pointers (two), blocks (one) and minutes (13), while tying his top mark in assists (two).
Junior forward Jaylen Carey and redshirt sophomore forward J.P. Estrella became the first Tennessee tandem since Feb. 4, 2024, with double-doubles in the same game. The former had 13 points and 10 rebounds (six offensive), while the latter had 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 10 rebounds (seven offensive) and a career-high-tying three assists.
Senior forward Felix Okpara stuffed the stat sheet with nine points on 3-of-3 shooting, five rebounds, a game-leading four blocks and two steals. Sophomore guard Bishop Boswell and freshman guard Troy Henderson had six assists apiece, each setting career highs. That gave Tennessee three players with at least a half-dozen assists for the first time in the last 20 years (2006-26).
The Volunteers finished with 30 assists on 39 made field goals, their most assists in any game under Barnes and their highest total versus a Division I opponent since Nov. 17, 2009. The 30 assists also tied for the fourth-most in any contest in program history.
Sophomore point guard Jayden Johnson, the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year, scored a career-high 25 points for South Carolina State, 17 of which came in the first half. He shot 9-of-17 from the field, 4-of-6 beyond the arc and 3-of-4 at the line. The rest of his teammates combined for 29 points on a 10-of-38 field-goal clip, including a 2-of-14 ledger from deep.
As a team, the Volunteers shot a blistering 60.9 percent (39-of-64) from the field, their most since Nov. 17, 2024. They shot over 60.0 percent in both halves on a contest for the first time since Jan. 3, 2023, as well.
The 39 made field goals for Tennessee marked its third-most of the last 15 seasons (2011-26) and its top figure since Dec. 18, 2020.
Barnes’ team amassed a 56-18 edge in paint points, a 22-4 figure on fast breaks and a 47-12 advantage in bench scoring. The victors also had a 52-16 final tally on the glass, including a 20-6 number on the offensive end.
The Volunteers scored triple-digit points for the 69th time in program history, including eighth in Barnes’ tenure and the first since Nov. 17, 2024. They also logged a 50-point win for the seventh time in the shot-clock era, including the sixth against a Division I foe and first since Dec. 4, 2022.
Tennessee begins conference play Saturday at 3 p.m. with a top-20 clash against No. 18 Arkansas, live on ESPN2 from Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
