FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A miracle Karter Knox leaning triple as the shot clock expired and a Darius Acuff contested triple sent the Bud Walton Arena crowd into a frenzy and propelled Arkansas to a 86-75 win over Tennessee in both team’s SEC opener Saturday afternoon.
Acuff shined like a potential SEC Player of the Year while Tennessee’s role players kept them in the game. Here’s three quick takeaways on the loss.
Arkansas’ Stars Outshined Tennessee
Rick Barnes was highly complimentary of Arkansas point guard Darius Acuff Jr. on Friday. It didn’t take Acuff long to prove Barnes’ praise was well deserved. Tennessee jumped out to a 7-0 lead and the freshman Acuff promptly scored seven quick points to cut the deficit to two points and calm things down for the Razorbacks.
Acuff was the best player on the court in the SEC opener as Arkansas’ stars outplayed Tennessee’s stars. Fellow freshman guard Meleek Thomas is the Razorbacks’ second best scorer. He hit some big shots to help Arkansas take a first half lead.
Acuff was spectacular going for a game-high 27 points while Thomas added 16 points. Both were nails in big moments, combining to shoot six-for-11 from three-point line.
Compare that to Tennessee’s lead scorers Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament. Gillespie by no means played poorly going for 14 points along with four assists. He was a steadying force for Tennessee but just didn’t play near the same level at Acuff.
Then Ament struggled badly in the first. He threw down a transition dunk early in the game and could not get anything going after that. The freshman was better in the second half but still scored just 13 points while shooting 11 free throws. He added three rebounds and three assists
Typically stars play well no matter where the game is while role players struggle on the road. But Tennessee’s role players performed well. The Vols needed more from their stars, particularly Ament.
Bishop Boswell And Amari Evans Lead The Way For Strong Role Player Minutes
While Tennessee’s stars were not fantastic, the Vols got some really solid play from their role players off the bench. That was particularly the case with guard Bishop Boswell and Amari Evans.
Boswell opened the scoring with a triple and scored just three more points after that. But the sophomore did so many other things well as he so often does. He totaled four rebounds, three assists and two steals. By no means did he lock down Acuff, but he played much better defense on him than any other Volunteer did.
Then there was Evans who continued his recent surge as one of Tennessee’s best players. Evans recorded three steals and three rebounds. With the reputation as a tough player and strong defense, neither is out of the norm. But his 16 points on a perfect seven-for-seven shooting from the field has truly come out of nowhere.
Tennessee’s role players as a collective played very well in this game. Nine different Vols scored and seven scored at least six points.
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The Game Gets Away From Tennessee With A Scoring Drought
Amari Evans knocked down an open triple and Tennessee lead Arkansas 58-55 with 11:06 to play. That’s when everything went sideways and Tennessee lost control of the game. The Vols didn’t score for the next 5:17 and the Razorbacks used it to go on a 11-0 run to take control of the game.
It started with Gillespie on the bench and Tennessee turning the ball over on three out of four possessions. Over the 5:17 stretch, the Vols coughed it up four times. But they also went zero-for-five from the field and only grabbed one offensive rebound.
Another critical moment came when Ament missed the front end of the bonus. At the time, Arkansas led by just three points. It was a moment for Tennessee to potentially stop the bleeding but Ament was unable to do so.
Tennessee stayed in it and got the game back to two points at one point, but was never able to fully recover.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee basketball returns to Knoxville for its SEC home opener on Tuesday night against Texas. Tipoff from Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center is at 9 p.m. ET. ESPN2 is broadcasting the game.
