KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team defeated North Florida, 99-66, Wednesday night at Food City Center.
Redshirt sophomore forward J.P. Estrella paced all scorers with a career-high 23 points and game-best 10 rebounds for No. 20/18 Tennessee (3-0) in the victory.
After conceding seven of the opening 10 points, the Volunteers went on a 9-0 run in just 96 seconds to go ahead, 12-7, with 15:13 on the first-half timer. However, North Florida (0-2) bounced back and regained a 19-18 advantage just 5:09 later.
Tennessee soon took back full control, ending the frame on a 15-0 run, with the first 11 points coming in just 1:56 of action. It held the Ospreys scoreless for the final 6:13 of the session, forcing six consecutive misses. The strong close to the half gave the home team a commanding 47-30 edge at the intermission, with Estrella notching 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
The Volunteers got dunks from freshman forward Nate Ament and junior forward Cade Phillips to open the second half, extending their run to 19-0 across 7:24 to go ahead by 21, 51-30. North Florida finally snapped a 7:53 drought—it featured seven straight missed field goals—with 18:20 to play.
Tennessee continued to stretch its advantage, using separate 7-0 and 11-0 surges to eventually earn a 32-point lead, 86-54, with 5:32 remaining. The margin reached 34 before a free throw in the closing seconds made it a 33-point final. It marked the team’s second win by over 30 in the last five days.
Estrella, who had a career-best point total for the third consecutive outing to open the season, shot 11-of-14 from the field. A co-career-high six of his rebounds came on the offensive end, while he added an assist and a block to his final line.
Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie gave Tennessee, for the first time since February 2021, two 20-point scorers for the second outing in a row—he was part of both pairs—as he posted 21. The Greeneville, Tenn., native, who shot 4-of-10 from beyond the arc, added a game-best seven assists and two steals.
Ament stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block, becoming the fifth SEC freshman—seventh occurrence—to tally that line in the last 20 seasons (2006-26). Phillips and senior guard Amaree Abram each scored nine points, with the former grabbing a co-career-best nine rebounds and the latter logging a team-best three steals.
Sophomore guard Kent Jackson led the Ospreys with 16 points and five assists. Graduate guard Devin Hines and senior guard Kamrin Oriol notched 11 points apiece, but Tennessee held the duo to a combined 8-of-29 field-goal clip.
The Volunteers pulled down 52 rebounds, their second time reaching that mark in the first three contests of the season, and had a plus-28 margin on the glass. Twenty of those boards came on the offensive end, leading to a 27-13 margin in second-chance points.
In addition, the victors had a 44-15 edge in bench points, a 54-28 tally in paint points and a 23-11 cushion in points of turnovers.
Tennessee returns to the hardwood Monday at 8:30 p.m. for a matchup with Rice, live on SEC Network from Food City Center. The Owls are coached by Rob Lanier, who was an assistant for the Volunteers from 2015-19.
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.
