KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team concluded its five-game, season-opening homestand Thursday night with an 89-60 victory over Tennessee State at Food City Center.
Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie paced No. 20/17 Tennessee (5-0) with 17 points in a contest it led for all but 42 seconds and never trailed.
After the two teams split the opening baskets, the Volunteers went on an 11-0 run in just 1:58 to go ahead, 13-2, through three minutes. Senior guard Amaree Abram connected on three 3-pointers during that period, keying a 5-of-6 start from the field for the home team.
Tennessee conceded the next bucket, but then rattled off another 11-0 burst, this one over 6:19, to go ahead by 20 with 9:32 on the timer. That came during a stretch of 8:06 during which Tennessee State (2-3) went scoreless and missed 12 consecutive field-goal attempts.
The Volunteers expanded their lead as high as 26 on multiple occasions in the first frame and took a 22-point margin, 43-21, into the locker room. They shot 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from long range while holding the Tigers to a 1-of-13 (7.7 percent) mark, including forcing misses on their first 10 attempts. Head coach Rick Barnes‘ team also forced 13 first-half turnovers, leading to a 15-3 edge in points off giveaways.
Tennessee pushed its lead to 30 for the first time with 14:14 on the timer, as a pair of free throws by freshman forward Nate Ament made it 62-32. The advantage reached 34 on multiple occasions before a 9-0 run in 2:13 by the Tigers trimmed it to 76-51 with 5:44 left.
The contest ended with the Volunteers ahead by 29, as the team registered its fourth straight win by at least 25 points.
Gillespie, who made all six of his 2-point attempts, co-led all players with five assists and had two steals. Ament, who went 7-of-8 at the stripe, finished with 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and a game-best four steals, with the latter mark a new high in his young career.
Abram finished with 15 points to match Ament, as he went 4-of-6 from the field and 4-of-4 at the line. Freshman forward DeWayne Brown II reached double figures for the first time as a collegian, producing 13 points behind a 7-of-8 tally on free throws. Senior forward Felix Okpara added 11 points and paced all competitors with eight rebounds.
Senior guard Aaron Nkrumah tallied a game-high 19 points and a co-game-best five assists for the Tigers. Tennessee held him to 5-of-16 shooting from the field, including a 1-of-8 mark beyond the arc, but he went 8-of-10 at the line. Redshirt senior guard Travis Harper II posted 17 points, while junior forward Antoine Lorick III had 12 points on perfect clips from the floor (3-of-3) and the line (5-of-5).
The Volunteers logged an assist on 20 of their 25 field goals, as well as shot a dazzling 31-of-35 (88.6 percent) on free throws, their first time surpassing 30 makes since Dec. 7, 2022. At the other end, they held Tennessee State to 18-of-56 (32.1 percent) shooting overall, including a 5-of-27 (18.5 percent) ledger on 3-pointers.
With its five-game homestand complete, Tennessee now heads to the Players Era Men’s Championship in Las Vegas, where its first game set for Monday at 1 p.m. ET against Rutgers, live on TNT and HBO Max from MGM Grand Garden Arena.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
