Knoxville, TN – In its first outing of 2024, the Tennessee Vols basketball team logged a dominant 87-50 victory Tuesday night against Norfolk State at Food City Center.
Fifth-ranked Tennessee (10-3) led wire to wire in its non-conference finale and, behind a game-high 17 points from junior guard Zakai Zeigler, claimed its sixth consecutive triumph.
The Volunteers raced out to a 16-5 lead after just five-and-a-half minutes of action, but then went scoreless for nearly five minutes and missed 10 straight field goals. Norfolk State (9-7) managed to trim the margin to four, 20-16, with 7:47 to go in the frame.
Tennessee, though, fully took over from that point on. It scored 23 of the last 25 points of the half, including finishing with an 18-0 run in the final 5:34. The surge, capped with a corner 3-pointer by fifth-year guard Santiago Vescovi with ticks on the clock to give him 300 such makes as a collegian, gave the home team a commanding 43-18 edge at the intermission.
The Volunteers shot 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from 3-point range in the first half, while holding Norfolk State to a 28.6 percent (6-of-21) overall shooting percentage. They also logged a 13-2 edge in points off turnovers, forcing 10 and giving away just three.
For the first time, Tennessee extended its advantage up to 30—its second time doing so in a contest this season—with 13:28 remaining, as it took a 55-25 lead with 13:28 on the clock. The margin ballooned to 35, 66-31, with 8:59 remaining.
On four separate occasions, the Volunteers upped the edge to 37, including with the final basket of the game to make that the closing score differential. It marked their second-largest win of the year, trailing only a 38-point decision, 80-42, over Tennessee Tech on Nov. 6, 2023, in the season opener.
Zeigler, who led the Volunteers in scoring for the second consecutive contest, shot 5-of-10 from 3-point range to set a career best in makes and led all players with a season-high-tying four steals. The Long Island, N.Y., native added four assists and zero turnovers.
Fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht amassed 15 points and a season-best four assists, as well as made all six of his free-throw attempts. Sophomore forward Tobe Awaka finished with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, tying a career best in makes, and a game-high 11 rebounds to record his first collegiate double-double. Fifth-year guard Josiah-Jordan James stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, seven rebounds and a game-leading five assists.
Junior guard Jamarii Thomas paced the Spartans with 15 points, but Tennessee forced him into a game-high six turnovers. Graduate student guard Christian Ings added 10 points in the setback. That duo shot 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from the floor, while the rest of the Norfolk State roster went 8-of-30 (26.7 percent).
The Volunteers concluded the night with a 23-1 advantage in the assist column, as nine players posted at least one, seven had multiple and three logged four-plus. The victors also recorded a season-best 14 steals and registered a 16-6 cushion in second-chance points.
Tuesday marked the second time in the last decade Tennessee did not allow multiple assists in a game and the fourth time in that stretch it had an assist margin of at least plus-20, with the plus-22 ledger marking its second-largest tally in that stretch. The Volunteers also became the first team since Feb. 2019 to face a DI foe and finish plus-20 in assists without allowing multiple assists.
Next Up For UT Men’s Basketball
With non-conference action now complete, the Tennessee Vols basketball team opens SEC play Saturday at 6:00pm against No. 22/19 Ole Miss, live on SEC Network from Food City Center. Limited tickets remain and can be purchased HERE.
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 head coach Rick Barnes now owns 789 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 victory against Norfolk State, Barnes has now defeated 200 different current DI programs—202 based off membership at the time of the game—in his 37-year tenure as a head coach.
Barnes improved to 8-0 all-time as a head coach against the current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The Volunteers now own a 28-game non-conference home winning streak, dating back to the 2020-21 season opener versus Colorado on December 8th, 2020.
Tennessee has now gone undefeated in non-conference home games for each of the past four seasons.
The Volunteers improved to 26-7 (.788) while ranked in the AP top five during Barnes’ tenure, across four different seasons.
Tennessee became the first team to allow fewer than two assists and record an assist margin of at least plus-20 against a DI foe since Gonzaga amassed a 22-1 ledger versus Saint Mary’s on February 9th, 2019.
The only other Tennessee opponent in the last 10 years not to log multiple assists was Mississippi State, which posted just one on March 9th, 2018, in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals in St. Louis.
The three prior times in the past 10 seasons Tennessee had a plus-20 assist margin came on February 25th, 2023, versus South Carolina (29-8, plus-21); December 4th, 2022, against Alcorn State (27-3, plus-24); and December 14th, 2021, versus USC Upstate (29-8, plus-21).
Tennessee took 15 more shots than Norfolk State in the first half, posting a 36-21 tally behind a 9-1 edge in offensive rebounds and a 10-3 margin in turnovers.
Tuesday marked the third time this season Tennessee led by 25-plus at halftime, joining a 29-point edge (41-12) over Tennessee Tech on November 6th, 2023, and a 28-point advantage (49-21) against Georgia Southern on December 12th, 2023.
The Volunteers compiled a 12-1 assist margin in the first half and an 11-0 register in the second session.
Tennessee held Norfolk State scoreless for the final 5:43 of the first half and the first 1:11 of the second half, a total of 6:54.
James became the 18th player in Tennessee history to amass 700-plus career rebounds and now ranks No. 14 on the program’s all-time leaderboard with 706.
Tuesday marked the 16th time James has posted five-plus assists as a collegian, including the third in the last six games.
James is the 15th player to start 100-plus games for the Volunteers, while Vescovi is the fourth to start at least 123.
Vescovi, who scored nine points on 3-of-4 long-range shooting, is just the 10th player in SEC history to make 300 career 3-pointers, including the third from Tennessee, alongside SEC all-time leader Chris Lofton (431 from 2004-08) and fifth-place Allan Houston (346 from 1989-93).
Vescovi joins Auburn’s Bryce Brown (2015-19) and Alabama’s John Petty (2017-21) as the only players to make 300-plus 300 pointers for an SEC team in the last decade.
Vescovi is now one of 53 active DI players with 400-plus career assists, as he and Creighton’s Steven Ashworth both joined the group Tuesday.
Vescovi is now the second player in Tennessee history with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists, joining Allan Houston (1989-93), with both owning over 1,400 points.
Vescovi is the fourth player in the last 20 years to compile at least 1,400 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists for an SEC team, joining Georgia’s Sundiata Gaines (2004-08), Mississippi State’s Jamont Gordon (2005-08) and Georgia’s Charles Mann (2012-16).
Vescovi is one of eight active DI players with at least 1,400 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists, joining RayJ Dennis (Baylor), Aaron Estrada (Alabama), Tristen Newton (Connecticut), Tyler Robertson (Portland), Baylor Scheierman (Creighton), Andrew Taylor (Mississippi State) and Jahmir Young (Maryland).
Only four other active DI players have even 1,000 points along with 500 rebounds and 400 assists: Darius Brown II (Utah State), Max Fiedler (Rice), Dayvion McKnight (Xavier) and Kyle Rode (Liberty).
Knecht tallied 13 first-half points, tied for his seventh-most in a frame this season, to record his 11th double-digit scoring session of the season.
Zeigler is now 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range over the last three contests after going 9-of-37 (25.0 percent) in the first 10 affairs of the season.
Zeigler has now connected on four-plus 3-pointers in two of the last three games—he went 4-of-8 against NC State in San Antonio, Texas, on December 16th, 2023—after doing so just twice in the first 75 outings of his career.
Awaka pulled down double-digit rebounds for the second time in the last three games—he grabbed a career-best 12 versus NC State—after doing so twice in his first 43 collegiate appearances.
Awaka has also notched 11-plus rebounds in two of the past three contests after doing so just once in the prior 43, as he hit that mark on December 21st, 2022, against Austin Peay State University.
Senior forward Colin Coyne, in his sixth appearance as a Volunteer, scored his second field goal at the DI level and his first since January 3rd, 2023, versus Mississippi State.
