Tennessee had no issues today against Gardner-Webb in a game that frankly felt more like a scrimmage matchup at Food City Center.
A quick 5-0 lead for Gardner-Webb sure didn’t last long. A bit of a sleepy start was understandable on a Sunday before Christmas, but Tennessee quickly threw it into gear and pulled away from the Bulldogs. Ja’Kobi Gillespie got things started with a three, then the Volunteers went to work in the paint.
Jaylen Carey and J.P. Estrella took advantage of an obvious size advantage to power
a 24-2 run. Freshman Amari Evans got in on the action with six quick points at the rim, while fellow freshman Clarence Massamba picked up some early minutes with Ethan Burg unavailable.
Nate Ament and Troy Henderson got involved with a couple of three-pointers of their own to build a 20+ point lead.
Mass subs were the name of the game for Rick Barnes as he took one of his final opportunities to get everyone in the mix in this one. He played 11 players in the first half alone, letting some fresh faces build out Tennessee’s lead before halftime.
That lead at halftime was 52-19.
Tennessee would obviously cruise from there, continuing to beat up Gardner-Webb in the paint. Amaree Abram took over midway through the second half, hitting several buckets in a row to stretch the lead. Mid-range, at the rim and a deep three — Abram found his groove and took over the Tennessee offense for a stretch.
Tennessee would go on to win, 94-52. For those interested, the Volunteers covered a 41.5 point spread by a half point.
Tennessee was paced by Gillespie and Abram with 15 points each. Freshman DeWayne Brown pulled down an impressive 14 rebounds. Overall, Tennessee won the rebounding battle 50-25, doubling up the undersized Bulldogs.
The Volunteers shot 54 percent from the field and 10-31 from three-point range. They held Gardner-Webb to just 7-30 shooting from beyond the arc. Former Volunteer DJ Jefferson scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting from the field.
Tennessee committed nine turnovers this afternoon, which was a solid number considering the amount of new lineups and faces we saw.
The Volunteers now break for Christmas and will return to action on December 30th against South Carolina State. That will be the final non-conference game of the season, leading into SEC play. Tennessee will open at Arkansas on January 3rd.
