Knoxville, TN – The Tennessee Vols basketball team concluded the calendar year by defeating Tarleton State, 65-46, Thursday night at Food City Center.
Junior guard Zakai Zeigler paced No. 8/7 Tennessee (9-3) with a game-high 13 points in a contest it trailed for just 35 seconds on its way to completing a perfect record in December.
Tarleton State (8-4, 2-0 WAC) scored 12 of the first 22 points in the opening nine minutes, but the Volunteers quickly answered to take control of the game. They went on a 15-2 run—including both a trio of 3-pointers and four straight made field goals—in under five minutes to go ahead by 11, 25-14, with 6:03 left on the first-half clock.
Tennessee built a 14-point edge, 39-25, by the time the halftime horn sounded, as it scored the last seven points of the session. The home team shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the field in opening session, including 54.5 percent (6-of-11) beyond the arc, while holding the Texans to 33.3 percent (9-of-27) and 14.3 percent (1-of-7) respective clips at the other end.
Neither team scored in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the second frame, as Tennessee missed its first six field goals and Tarleton missed its first five. After a basket by the Texans, fifth-year guard Santiago Vescovi hit a 3-pointer with 16:12 left to give the Volunteers a then-game-best 15-point edge, 42-27, with 16:12 to go.
Tarleton State chipped away from there and trimmed the deficit to six multiple times, including to 50-44 with 5:45 remaining. The Volunteers, though, responded shortly thereafter with eight straight points in just 84 seconds to grab a 14-point cushion, 58-44, with 3:03 to go.
That surge sparked a 15-2 run to end the affair, as Tennessee finished the night with a game-high 19-point lead, 65-46. The Volunteers went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line over the final three-and-a-half minutes, as Zeigler made all four of his attempts and sophomore forward Tobe Awaka went 5-of-6.
Zeigler’s 13 points came on a 4-of-8 mark from the field and he added a co-game-best five assists with just one turnover. Vescovi scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds and matched Zeigler’s assist total to tie his season best.
Fifth-year guard Josiah-Jordan James totaled 10 points and a game-leading 10 rebounds to notch his second double-double of the season. Awaka, meanwhile, registered a career-best five blocks to equal the total of every other player in the game combined.
Sophomore guard Devon Barnes paced Tarleton State with 12 points, but Tennessee held him to 4-of-15 shooting overall and a 1-of-7 mark beyond the arc. Senior forward KiAndre Gaddy and senior guard Lue Williams posted 10 points apiece in the setback. The Volunteers limited the Texans’ leading scorer, senior forward Jakorie Smith, to six points on a 2-of-11 field-goal mark.
The Volunteers’ strong defense conceded just a 30.0 percent (18-of-60) clip from the floor on the evening, including a 9.1 percent (2-of-22) ledger on 3-pointers. It marked the third time in at least the last 14 seasons Tennessee—which also had a 15-2 advantage in points off turnovers and a 17-4 margin in bench points—held its foe to 30 percent or below from the field and 10 percent or worse from deep.
Next Up For UT Men’s Basketball
The Tennessee Vols basketball team now has 11 days without a game before returning to action on January 2nd at 7:00pm for its non-conference finale, live on SEC Network from Food City Center, against Norfolk State.
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 Postgame Notes
Tennessee men’s basketball head coach Rick Barnes now owns 788 victories in his career, 11 behind John Calipari—the lone active DI coach above him—for No. 14 on the all-time wins list (min. 10 years at a Division I school).
With the win over Tarleton State, Barnes has now defeated 199 different current DI programs—201 based off membership at the time of the game—in his 37-year tenure as a head coach.
Barnes improved to 15-0 all-time as a head coach against the current members of the Western Athletic Conference.
The Volunteers now own a 27-game non-conference home winning streak, dating back to the 2020-21 season opener versus Colorado on December 8th, 2020.
Thursday marked Tennessee’s first game against a current WAC school and its first against a then-league member since a 79-62 victory at SMU on December 6th, 2001.
Tennessee went 5-0 in December, its third unblemished mark in the month over the last 16 seasons (2008-present), joining Dec. 2018 and December 2020, both of which also came under Barnes’ leadership.
Thursday marked the eighth time Tennessee has held an opponent under 10 percent from 3-point range in Barnes’ nine-year tenure, including the first since December 11th, 2022, when Maryland went 2-of-24 (8.3 percent) in a neutral-site game in Brooklyn, NY.
Additionally, this was the 17th time in Barnes’ tenure the Volunteers held their opponent to 30 percent or below from the field, including the third this season and the second straight time at home.
The only two other times in the last 14 seasons Tennessee’s opponent shot 30 percent or worse from the floor and 10 percent or worse on 3-pointers were December 4th, 2022, when Alcorn State posted 13-of-48 (27.1 percent) and 1-of-16 (6.3 percent) ledgers and January 18th, 2020, when Vanderbilt shot 12-of-51 (23.5 percent) overall and 0-of-25 from long range.
The Volunteers’ six first-half made 3-pointers came from six different players: James, Vescovi, Zeigler junior guard Jordan Gainey and junior guard Jahmai Mashack.
Tennessee made just one of its initial 13 shots in the second half, part of a 4-of-25 ledger through the first 15-and-a-half minutes of the frame.
With 10 points Thursday, James now has 1,107 in his career, becoming the 47th player in Tennessee history to surpass 1,100.
James posted his 12th double-digit rebounding performance and seventh double-double as a collegian.
Awaka recorded five blocks to better than double his prior career high of two, set on January 17th, 2023, at Mississippi State.
Prior to Awaka, the last time a Volunteer had five blocks in a game was November 30th, 2022, when Jonas Aidoo recorded that figure against McNeese State.
