Tennessee bounces back, trounces Austin Peay
Whatever frustrations Tennessee had from a tough road loss at Arizona last Saturday night, the Vols took them all out on Austin Peay.
In arguably most dominating efforts of the season, Tennessee clicked on both ends of the floor, absolutely suffocating the Governors on defense while turning in a commanding offensive performance in a 86-44 win at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday.
The win moved the Vols to 10-2 overall with SEC play at Ole Miss looming following the Christmas break on Dec. 28.
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said before the season that his team's identity would be shooting the ball and the Vols finally looked the part, shooting 44.4% from three-point range and 56.3% from the field.
Inside, Olivier Nkamhoua led with a game-high 20 points while Santiago Vescoi scored 18 and Jonas Aidoo finished with 10 points.
The Vols dominated the boards, holding a 47-26 edge in rebounding. They tallied 14 second chance points and 56 points in the paint. Freshman Tobe Awaka had 11 rebounds.
Tennessee set the tone early with Nkamhoua scoring the on the team's opening possession. Camer Copeland scored on a pair of free throws less than two minutes into the first half but the Vols responded with a 16-0 run before Austin Peay (6-7) answered more than six minutes later.
Nkamhoua scored 6 of the Vols' first 8 points and Aidoo, Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack made immediate impacts off of the bench to put the Vols up 20-2.
Vescovi hit a 3-pointer at the 8:47 mark and that opened the way for five first half 3-pointers for Tennessee. The Vols shot 54.5% in the period with Vescovi connecting on four of them and Key and Mashack combing for two more.
Tennessee continued to impose its will in the second half. The Vols didn't let up, chasing down loose balls, creating turnovers and keeping Austin Peay off of the boards.
The score allowed several younger players to pick up minutes down the stretch. In the last five minutes of regulation, Tennessee had four freshmen on the floor. One of them-Julian Phillips, who got the start but scored all 9 of his points in the second half-put the explanation mark on the win with a steal and dunk on the fast-break to up the Vols' lead to 86-39.
Tennessee plays a struggling Ole Miss team at The Pavilion in Oxford on Dec. 28 at 5 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
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