No. 20 Tennessee cruised past Tennessee State on Thursday night in Knoxville, winning by a score of 89-60 to improve to 5-0 on the season. The Vols will now prepare for the Player’s Era tournament next week in Las Vegas, where the competition will ramp up significantly.
Tennessee had five players in double-digit scoring figures on Thursday night, with Ja’Kobi Gillespie leading the way at 17 points. Nate Ament and Amaree Abram both had 15 points, DeWayne Brown had 13 points, and Felix Okpara finished with 11 points. Abram began the game with 3-of-3 shooting from behind the arc in the first three minutes.
The Vols ended up forcing 22 turnovers from the Tigers’ offense, but Tennessee turned the ball over 17 times itself. Turnovers continue to be a big talking point through the first handful of games this season, and will be something that needs to be cleaned up against better competition next week in the tournament.
Ultimately, Tennessee cruised to a victory on Thursday night. The Vols put up 43 points in the first half, 46 points in the second half, and had 10 players record points. Tennessee will return to action on Monday for an afternoon game against Rutgers in Las Vegas.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways As Tennessee Basketball Uses Dominant Defense To Cruise Past TSU
Check out all three postgame interviews below:
Tennessee HC Rick Barnes
Tennessee State HC Nolan Smith
Tennessee G Amaree Abram, F DeWayne Brown
