No. 11 Tennessee rolls past Tennessee Tech in hoops season opener

The No. 11 Vols came out firing early and often out of the half to down the Golden Eagles, 75-43, at Thompson-Boling Arena on Monday – hitting more than 40% of their shots from deep in the final 20 minutes.

Tennessee (1-0) was paced on offense by Indiana State transfer Tyreke Key, who led the team with 17 points – including four 3-pointers. He was followed by Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi with 12 and nine points, respectively.

On the defensive end, the Vols held Tennessee Tech (0-1) to 32.5% shooting from the field and 29.4% from 3-point range. Tennessee forced 22 turnovers and snagged 21 rebounds.

Among the defensive highlights in the first half was freshman Julian Phillips going high and blocking a Daniel Ramsey shot that electrified a solid home-opening crowd in Knoxville.

Tennessee jumped out to 12-1 lead in the first 12 minutes of the first half, but then went cold shooting. In one stretch just before halftime, the Vols missed seven 3-pointers before Vescovi rattled one in to extend the lead to 25-16.

Whatever issues Tennessee had connecting from beyond the arc were corrected at halftime.

Key opened the scoring for the Vols in the second half with a three on the fast break that opened the way for a barrage of points from Zeigler, Vescovi, Josiah-Jordan James and Jahmai Mashack to put Tennessee on track for a dominating close.

In the paint, the Vols totaled 20 points and picked up 16 offensive rebounds.

Tennessee next turns its attention to a neutral site matchup with Colorado at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Sunday. The Vols beat the Buffalos, 69-54, in Boulder last season.

Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET on ESPN.

*****

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @TMansfieldMedia, @JNichols_2121, @ByNoahTaylor, @TylerIvens, @RealTBannerman.