NASHVILLE, Tn. — Tennessee basketball had no answers for Duke Miles and was unable to get key stops late in the game, falling to Vanderbilt 75-68 in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday evening.
Here’s three quick takeaways on the loss.
Tennessee Again Won The Shot Quantity Game
The Vols’ offensive rebounding has been their biggest strength so far this season. It was again on display against Vanderbilt as Tennessee grabbed 15 first half offensive rebounds and 23 offensive rebounds over the course of the game.
As has often been the case this season, Tennessee was not as efficient as they would like at capitalizing on those opportunities but its 24 second chance points was better than it’s been at times this season.
While rebounding has been Tennessee’s strength, turnovers have been its bug-a-boo. But the Vols limited the issue in the first half against Vanderbilt, turning it over just twice. But the issue popped up more in the second half. It wasn’t a crazy quantity, seven in the final 20 minutes, but they too often led to Vanderbilt transition points.
Tennessee was unable to force turnovers so lost the turnover battle 9-6 in the loss. Still they didn’t give up a ton of ground there which is all they could hope for.
Despie losing the turnover battle, Tennessee still took seven more shots than Vanderbilt, but as has often been the case lately, that was not enough for the Vols to get the win.
Tennessee Had No Answers For Duke Miles
Tennessee’s offensive production was extremely balanced. But on the other end, Vanderbilt’s star players carried the bulk of its offensive production. That was especially the case for star shooting guard Duke Miles.
Miles scored a game-high 30 points and did it on an incredibly efficient 11-for-14 shooting from the field while making his first nine field goal attempts. The senior guard did it at all three levels, connecting from deep four times while getting to the basket and foul line consistently.
The Vols threw an abundance of players at time. Bishop Boswell, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Ethan Burg and Amari Evans all had stints trying to slow him down but none of them were effective.
Otherwise, Tennessee did a solid job defensively. But the Vols just did not have enough answers for Miles.
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Ja’Kobi Gillespie Found His Shooting Stroke But Nate Ament Struggled
Entering Friday’s matchup, Ja’Kobi Gillespie was shooting just 22.2% from three-point range over his last eight games. But Gillespie found his shot against Vanderbilt, knocking down three-of-seven three-point attempts.
Gillespie was terrific outside of his three-point shot too. He was fantastic at getting downhill and scoring at the basket. And facilitated a ton of Tennessee’s offense on alley-oops to Felix Okpara.
The senior point guard totaled a team-high 21 points while adding four assists and a steal.
But a day after scoring a game-high 27 points and carrying Tennessee against Auburn, Nate Ament struggled to find his shooting stroke. The star freshman finished the game with 12 points but shot a horrific one-for-13 from the field.
He did have a key stretch where he got to the foul line and scored nine out of 11 points for Tennessee. But he just could not get anything going with any consistency on offense.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee basketball’s run at the SEC Tournament comes to a close. The Vols now return to Knoxville where they await their NCAA Tournament draw on Selection Sunday.
