Vols cruise past Saint Peter's, set up Second Round bout with Texas
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jonas Aidoo walked to midcourt wearing a towel over his shoulders and a grin from ear-to-ear.
There a little less than a minute left in the first half, but 2-seed Tennessee's First Round match up with 15-seed Saint Peter's was already out of hand. Aidoo was a big reason why.
The Vols' junior forward, who was one of the headliners of their SEC Championship run in the regular season, was the tone-setter late Thursday night at Spectrum Center, pacing Tennessee early en route to a 83-49 victory to keep its season going in the NCAA Tournament.
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For the Vols (25-8) it was familiar display. The trio of Aidoo, Zakai Zeigler and SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht showed again why this Tennessee team has the pieces for a Final Four run.
Knecht finished with a game-high 23 points while Aidoo scored 15 along with six rebounds.
Zeigler had a double-double, scoring 11 points and totaling 10 assists. He set the offense up while the Vols' patented defense made the Peacocks, the darlings of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, noticeably uncomfortable from their first possession on.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was an appropriate start for Aidoo. The North Carolina native scored seven of Tennessee's first 10 points, including an and-1 dunk to help open a 10-5 lead.
Saint Peter's (19-14) entered the match up as one of the worst offensive teams in college basketball and the Vols' defense took advantage early, holding the Peacocks to just 18% shooting eight minutes in.
A 8-0 Tennessee run, sparked by a Knecht jumper swelled the lead to 18-5 with just over 12 minutes left in the half.
Saint Peter's continued to provide little answers in stopping Knecht and Aidoo, both players reached double figures before the 10 minute mark as the Vols went up 20 with eight minutes to go.
Zeigler facilitated most of those scoring opportunities. He tallied six assists in the first half.
Even when Saint Peter's found a little life with a couple of threes, Tennessee answered by hitting seven of eight field goals to close out the final five and a half minutes of the half on a commanding 17-5 run to lead 46-20 at the intermission.
It poured over into the second half, too. The Vols' starting five picked up where they left off. Knecht six points in the first five minutes, including a contested 3-pointer that stretched Tennessee's advantage to 58-28.
From that point, Rick Barnes went to his bench.
Freshman J.P. Estrella saw valuable minutes, scoring on an alley-oop that ignited Tennessee's sideline and Jahmai Mashack laced a deep three and Jordan Gainey hit another to keep the Vols rolling at 68-38 with inside of eight minutes left.
Zeigler hit his double-double in the last three minutes, getting his 10th assist on a lob to Estrella and draining a 3-pointer on the following possession to put the exclamation point on a stellar performance for himself and Tennessee.
STAT OF THE GAME
It's no mystery that Tennessee is at its best when Zeigler is.
Coming off of a sluggish outing in an SEC Tournament loss to Mississippi State less than a week ago, Zeigler returned to form against Saint Peter's.
The Vols' court general dished the ball in transition and fit other passes into tight spots that resulted in scores. He had as much to do with Tennessee's strong start on the offensive end as Knecht and Aidoo and similar performances should help the Vols play well past Charlotte.
WHAT WAS SAID
UP NEXT
Tennessee will get a familiar foe in the Round of 32.
The Vols draw 7-seed Texas, which beat 10-seed Colorado State, 56-44 earlier Thursday. It will mark the third-straight season that Tennessee has faced the Longhorns, who Barnes coached between 1998 and 2015.
The two teams split home-and-home games in 2022 and 2023.
A tip-off time and TV designation has yet to be announced.
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