Honolulu, HI – Facing a foe ranked top-two nationally for the second time in as many days, the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team fell to top-ranked Kansas, 69-60, Wednesday morning in the Allstate Maui Invitational third-place game.
No. 7/8 Tennessee (4-2) led by three multiple times in the second half, but the Jayhawks ended the contest with 10 of the final 15 points in the last six minutes to come away with the victory at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center. Tennessee fifth-year guard Santiago Vescovi totaled a season-best 21 points to lead all scorers.
The Volunteers, buoyed by eight consecutive points in 58 seconds, grabbed a 24-17 advantage after exactly 12 minutes of play. Kansas (5-1) countered soon after that with a 12-2 burst, including five straight made field goals and nine points in a row, to go up by six, 34-28, with 2:14 on the clock.
Tennessee closed the frame on a 7-1 spurt, including the third 3-pointer of the half by Vescovi to level the score, and the game entered the break deadlocked at 35. The Volunteers forced nine turnovers, which they used to create an 11-5 margin off giveaways and help offset the Jayhawks’ 48.1 percent (13-of-27) field-goal shooting.
Fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht opened the second half with a 3-pointer to make it a 10-1 run and put Tennessee up by three, but the Volunteers did not extend their lead beyond that. The first 15 minutes of the second half were all played within a nine-point window, but Kansas held Tennessee scoreless for 4:47 and used a 7-0 burst to stretch the margin to a game-high 11, 66-55, with 2:17 to go.
The Volunteers were unable to get any closer than seven in the closing minutes, as the Jayhawks claimed the nine-point decision.
Vescovi’s 21 points came on 8-of-16 shooting, including a 5-of-11 clip from beyond the arc. Knecht totaled 13 points and six rebounds, while junior guard Jordan Gainey compiled 13 points and a season-best four boards. Junior forward Jonas Aidoo added eight points, a team-best and co-season-high 11 rebounds, a game-best three blocks and three steals.
Senior center Hunter Dickinson paced the Jayhawks with 17 points and 20 rebounds, the latter the most by a Tennessee opponent in head coach Rick Barnes‘ nine-year tenure. Graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr., posted 14 points and six boards, but Tennessee forced him into seven turnovers, the most by any opposing player this season. Junior forward K.J. Adams Jr., logged 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
The Volunteers ended the day with a 17-5 edge in points off turnovers and a 14-6 margin in fast-break points, but Kansas registered a 40-26 cushion in paint points. The Jayhawks took 19 fewer shots in the game but made five more, logging a 27-of-52 (51.9 percent) mark to the Volunteers’ 22-of-71 (31.0 percent) tally.
Next Up For UT Men’s Basketball
The Tennessee Vols basketball team is back in action on November 29th at 7:15pm against a third straight top-15 foe when it takes on No. 14 North Carolina at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC, in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
Tennessee Volunteers Post Game Notes
The Volunteers are now 4-8 all-time in the Maui Invitational, including 2-2 in third-game matchups.
Barnes now owns a 10-10 record in eight multi-team regular season events across his nine seasons at Tennessee, including a 7-5 mark outside the continental United States.
According to FOX Sports Research, Tennessee is the first team since Loyola Chicago in Jan. 1972 to play the top two teams in the AP Poll on consecutive days.
Per Will Warren, Tennessee became the third team in the last 50 years to face the AP Poll’s top two teams in back-to-back games, alongside unranked Bellarmine in November 2021 and unranked Kansas in November 1989.
This is the first time in program history the Volunteers have played AP top-three foes in consecutive games and the third time facing AP top-five foes back to back, joining January 2006 and December 1965.
Wednesday marked the second straight day the Volunteers faced an individual averaging a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double who was a Preseason All-American and the Preseason Conference Player of the Year in a Power Six league, as Dickinson followed Purdue’s Zach Edey.
Tennessee is now 12-12 against AP top-10 teams under Barnes, including 10-6 in its last 16 matchups, 7-4 since the start of the 2021-22 season and 7-3 in the past 10 such affairs.
The Volunteers now own a 9-7 mark versus AP top-five teams in Barnes’ tenure, including a 7-4 ledger in their last 11 such games and a 5-2 tally in their past seven.
Under Barnes, the Volunteers are now 6-5 in AP top-10 showdowns, including 3-3 dating back to the beginning of 2021-22 campaign.
Wednesday marked the fifth top-25 showdown between the Volunteers and Jayhawks, with Tennessee dropping to 3-2.
The setback against the Jayhawks marked Barnes’ first defeat against an AP No. 1 opponent during his Tennessee tenure, as the Volunteers won the prior two such outings.
Tennessee is now 5-2 all-time against AP No. 1 teams while ranked, as its five-game winning streak in such affairs came to an end.
With 10 points before the intermission, Knecht logged his seventh double-digit performance in a frame this season.
Wednesday marked the first time this season Knecht did not both score 16-plus points and lead the Volunteers in scoring.
Vescovi’s 13 first-half points eclipsed his prior season high in a full game, which was 11 against Wofford on November 14th, 2023, while his three made 3-pointers on four first-half attempts matched his entire season total on 17 attempts through the first four games.
The eight made field goals for Vescovi tied his career high and marked the third time he reached that number, including the first since December 28th, 2022, at Ole Miss.
Aidoo has grabbed 10-plus rebounds in two of the past three games, matching his total from the first 57 games of his career.
Aidoo is the first player in Barnes’ tenure with eight points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and three steals in a game, as well as the first player from any school with that line against a Power Six opponent since DePaul’s Nick Ongenda on Feb. 25, 2023, versus Georgetown.
In addition, Dickinson, who had a first-half double-double, is the fourth player to log 15-plus points and 15-plus rebounds against Tennessee in Barnes’ tenure, including the first South Carolina’s Chris Silva had 17 and 15, respectively, on February 13th, 2019.
One day after taking 18 fewer free throws than their opponent—Purdue attempted 48 to Tennessee’s 30 in the semifinals—Tennessee took 14 fewer than the Jayhawks, as the margin was 22-8.
As announced before the start of the tournament, redshirt freshman guard Freddie Dilione V missed the entire Allstate Maui Invitational due to a partial tear of his left plantar fascia.
