Tennessee basketball avoided a pre-Christmas slump, jumping out to a massive first half lead and cruising past Gardner-Webb 94-52 on Sunday afternoon in Knoxville. The Vols emptied the bench and took care of the basketball on their way to the drama-free victory.
Here’s three quick takeaways on the win.
Tennessee Uses Massive Run After Slow Start
A buy game before Christmas often lends to a slow start and sloppy play. That was mostly the case for Tennessee. The Vols fell behind 5-0 and didn’t score in the game’s first three minutes. It was a bad start but not terribly sloppy. The Vols missed open shots but didn’t turn the ball over any. Their biggest issue was giving up three early offensive rebounds.
But from there, Tennessee rolled against the out-matched Runnin’ Bulldogs. The Vols’ promptly went on a 24-2 run to completely take control of the game. They didn’t look back.
Despite falling behind 5-0, the Vols led 52-19 at halftime. After Tennessee took a sizable lead, the Runnin’ Bulldogs effort and defensive intensity significantly dropped. Credit to the Vols for keeping their foot and taking advantage.
Tennessee played 11 different players in the first half and 10 of them scored. Perhaps more impressively, the Vols’ defensive intensity was high and they did not have many defensive breakdowns despite the uncompetitive game.
The Vols Empty The Bench And Get Production
Rick Barnes didn’t wait long to deep in his bench and get his reserves in the game. The Vols got freshmen like Clarence Massamba, Amari Evans and Troy Henderson good minutes from early in the game one.
Much like they did on Tuesday against Louisville, Tennessee dominated in bench points. The Vols got 52 points from their bench compared to Gardner-Webb’s 20 bench points.
Amaree Abram scored 15 points on six-of-seven shooting from the field while totaling three steals. Both Jaylen Carey and JP Estrella scored in double figures.
But more importantly, Amari Evans and Troy Henderson each played well. Henderson is a good shooter who has struggled to find his shot early this season. He knocked down three triples to go along with a pair of assists and rebounds.
Evans picked up right where he left off in his strong performance against Louisville. He helped jump start the Vols’ first half run to open the game up on his way to six points, three rebounds and three steals.
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A Good Turnover Day
Turnovers have been one of Tennessee’s kryptonite’s this season. But after doing a solid job taking care of the ball against Louisville, the Vols turned in another strong performance taking care of the basketball.
The Vols coughed the ball up just nine times which was just their third game of the season with single-digit turnovers. Point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie led the way there. He did a fantastic job of running the show, dishing out nine assists while turning it over just three times.
As a whole, Tennessee totaled 21 assists to go along with the nine turnovers. This will continue to be an ongoing storyline for the Vols this season, but having two straight crisp games is a good sign going into the Christmas break.
Up Next
Tennessee now has eight days off around Christmas before facing South Carolina State on Dec. 30 in its final non conference game of the regular season.
