Tennessee basketball stayed unbeaten on the 2025-26 season by knocking off Tennessee State 89-60 on Thursday night in Knoxville. The Vols jumped out to a massive lead early and cruised from there in a sloppy second half.
Following the game, TSU coach Nolan Smith discussed the Tigers’ slow start, having some success on the glass and more. Here’s everything Smith said.
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Opening statement
“First of all, hats off to Tennessee, Coach Barnes, they did a heck of a job tonight. They’re a really good team. They’re physical. And they made us work. The way they crashed the offensive glass, the way they rebound. And just overall a really talented team. So hat’s off to them.”
On Tennessee State’s slow start making it hard to put any pressure on Tennessee
“For us, defensively, I thought we were pretty good to start the game. Offensively is where we kind of hurt ourselves, not taking the best shots against a good defensive team like Tennessee. You’ve got to make them work. You have to get in the paint. You have to kick the ball and you have to score together. For us, only to have 11 assists, we have a goal and that’s not even close to what our goal is. Especially having 22 turnovers against a good defensive team. You’ve got to be able to get a shot up and execute on the offensive end.”
On what Tennessee State’s defense was able to do to give Tennessee some problems
“Just be disruptive. We weren’t able to be disruptive enough. They were very poised and they ran their offense and they were very precise with the way they run their offense. Again, we were able to do a little bit in the first half defensively, but not enough to obviously stay close in the game on the defensive end.”
On Tennessee State being competitive in rebounding despite the size disadvantage against Tennessee
“It was just a huge point of emphasis. And I think when you find five guys that are willing to hit and then go get the rebound, that’s when it’s able to work. We were able to get them to miss a couple shots and when they did miss, the point of emphasis was to get the rebound and then go fly down the opposite end and try and get a good offensive possession. But again, I thought all night tonight our offense hurt us. Defensively, we weren’t terrible. We weren’t terrible. Again, like you said, we were able to rebound the ball even when we went small. So again, just for us, got to get better on the offensive end and find the best shots and create offense for your teammates.”
