Ja’Kobi Gillespie put on a show as Tennessee basketball coasted past Texas 85-71 on Tuesday night in Knoxville for its first SEC win of the season. The Vols led by 15 at halftime and staved off a handful of second half Texas runs to keep the Longhorns at arm’s length.
Here’s three quick takeaways on the victory.
The Ja’Kobi Gillespie Show
Ja’Kobi Gillespie has been Tennessee’s best player so far this season. But he took things to a completely different level in a dismantling of Texas. Gillespie’s first half against Texas wasn’t just his best half of the season but the best half that any Tennessee player has turned in this season.
Gillespie went for 22 first half points on an incredibly efficient eight-for-10 shooting from the field and three-for-four shooting from three-point range.
The Longhorns made it a big priority to try and take Gillespie out of the game in the second half, either blitzing or doubling him off ball screens but he still added 12 second half points for a career-high 34 points.
Texas simply did not have anyone capable of staying in front of Gillespie. The senior point guard got to the basket at a rate that he hasn’t all season and was efficient finishing when he got there. When the help defense came, Gillespie made the correct read. He finished with five assists and two turnovers.
On Saturday at Arkansas, Razorback point guard Darius Acuff was the best player on the court. Gillespie responded with an incredibly dominant showing.
Tennessee Controls The Game Inside
Texas has strong frontcourt size and has been a solid team scoring inside this season. But Tennessee dominated the game inside against the Longhorns, outscoring them 44-18 in the paint.
As noted, Gillespie’s ability to get to and score at the basket was a big part of that. The Vols also pounded the ball inside to their big men at a high clip. JP Estrella scored 11 points while DeWayne Brown and Jaylen Carey added 10 points each.
Whether on dishes from driving guards, post entries or put backs, Tennessee’s front court was able to consistently score with its big men against the Longhrons.
As a team, Tennessee shot 19-for-26 at the rim. Those numbers would be impressive in a buy game. All the more so against a SEC opponent.
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Tennessee Withstands A Pair Of Second Half Runs
Tennessee led by 15 points at halftime and quickly pushed its lead 23 points quickly with an 8-0 run to start the second half. But Texas didn’t go away, using a pair of second half runs to keep things somewhat interesting.
There was a 13-3 run from the 14:19 to 10:34 mark in the second half that cut Tennessee’s lead to 10 points. But the Vols had an answer with a 7-0 run of its own to push the lead back to 17 points.
A flagrant foul on Tennessee helped Texas on a 5-0 run to get thing back to 12. And from there, the Longhorns got their offense going enough to keep Tennessee from running away with things. But the Vols wouldn’t let them get it to single digits again and Gillespie was, again, a huge part of that.
Gillespie scores seven straight Tennessee points in one stretch, pushing its lead to 14, 15 and 14 points respectively. Then Gillespie provided the dagger, banking one in from Maryville with just over three minutes to play to push the lead by to 17 points. The star point guard kept the Longhorns from ever making things too interesting.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee basketball is back in action Saturday afternoon when they travel to Gainesville to take on defending national champion Florida. Tipoff is at noon ET. ESPN is broadcasting rhe game.
