A gritty win for Tennessee.
Coming off of another ugly conference loss, Tennessee needed to hold serve tonight at home. The only issue? Texas A&M is a pretty good basketball team, coming to Knoxville with a 13-3 mark. They certainly did not make it easy on the Volunteers on Tuesday night.
Tennessee would miss their first nine three-point attempts, putting themselves in an early hole. The Volunteers were fortunate the Aggies didn’t hit more than they did early on, as Tennessee fought back from an early 11 point deficit.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie finally got going after Bishop Boswell took the lid off the rim. Tennessee went to work with Jaylen Carey inside, cutting the game back to even with a few minutes left to play in the first half. The Volunteers were winning on the board and getting to the free throw stripe, hitting 9-10 in the opening half.
Texas A&M found answer after answer though, mainly from Jacari Lane and Ruben Dominguez. The two combined for five of the Aggies’ seven three-point makes in the first half.
Lane would hit another and then steal the inbounds pass for a quick five points. Texas A&M once again had taken a commanding lead in this one with Tennessee down nine points. Four Tennessee turnovers set up the run. And a vital Tennessee answer came — Gillespie for three, Okpara and-one and then Gillespie again to the rim. A quick 8-0 run tied the game up at 41 each.
A choppy few minutes led back to an A&M lead, but Troy Henderson nailed a corner three to pull things back to 48-46. Tennessee was dominant in the paint, but the turnovers continued to keep them from taking a lead with under ten minutes to play.
A wild finish to regulation
Nate Ament was able to cut the lead down to one with a strong finish at the basket, then Tennessee got a couple of stops. Henderson continued to make plays, this time coming up with a steal. Ament finally gave Tennessee its first lead at 57-55, but Ruben Dominguez hit another three to take it right back with under five minutes to play.
The two sides traded free throws over the next couple of minutes until Pop Isaacs drew a foul on a three-point attempt. It was Henderson who left his feet, but Isaacs missed two of three. With just under three minutes to go, Gillespie connected on an and-one to regain the lead at 64-63.
Just as they did all night long, the Aggies answered. Rylan Griffen hit a corner three to regain a two-point advantage, while Boswell connected on two more free throws at the other end to tie. A tight whistle continued down the stretch, but Tennessee was struggling to stay in front of the Texas A&M guards. The Aggies kept leaving the door open with free throw misses, however.
It was Henderson again drilling a key three to give Tennessee a 69-68 lead with a minute to play. A&M would hit two free throws to take the lead back again.
The Volunteers were the first to blink. Gillespie had the ball poked away from him and the Aggies took over possession. Tennessee got the turnover they needed, but Gillespie tossed a lob too high for Felix Okpara.
Issacs would make one of two from the line, leaving the door open for Tennessee with 16.7 seconds to play.
The Aggies fouled Ament streaking down the court, but Nate would only make one. Boswell came flying in for the offensive rebound though and was immediately fouled. Shooting two — Boswell made one — but the ball was ruled out of bounds on the Aggies.
A tie game with ten seconds to play gave Tennessee the ball, but Gillespie’s three didn’t fall. That couldn’t have been the attempt Rick Barnes wanted, and to overtime we went, tied at 71-71.
Overtime
Ament started the scoring in the overtime period with a stop-and-pop jumper in the paint. After a few empty trips, Texas A&M drew a foul on Gillespie with under two minutes to play. Griffen hit two to tie the game at 73-73.
Ament continued to work the paint, drawing a foul with 1:26 to play. The 5-star freshman hit them both, but Rashaun Agee answered with a layup. A rather uneventful first overtime period ended without a whimper as the Aggies double-teamed Ament’s game winner attempt. The ball rattled, but didn’t fall, forcing overtime No. 2.
Just like the first time, Ament opened the scoring with a bucket in the paint. But this time it Pop Isaacs hitting a three to answer. Tennessee, running completely through Ament now, kept it going to tie things up at 79-79. Boswell would give the Vols the lead back at the line.
A couple of huge defensive plays from Ament and Gillespie gave the Vols a chance to make it a two-possession game, and that’s exactly what Jaylen Carey did after a big offensive board.
83-79 was the Tennessee lead with 1:14 left. Lane would cut it back to three points with 1:07 remaining.
Carey would get another big rebound on the other end of the floor and was fouled with 23 seconds left. A&M fouled immediately as they should have, but Carey — who has struggled all year from the stripe — made a key one to make it a two-possession game.
Gillespie would foul out at the other end with 15 seconds remaining. Lane made two free throws for the Aggies, making it an 84-82 game. Ament made two, and Texas A&M was finished.
Tennessee survived, 87-82.
It was a gritty win for the Vols, who really needed it. Maybe most importantly, we saw a ton of growth from Ament down the stretch, finally looking like the guy he was billed to be. Tennessee trusted him to find tough buckets late, and he did just that by attacking the paint and showing some touch in the mid-range. Now, Barnes is going to need him to find a little consistency.
Another freshman, Troy Henderson, was a big reason for the win tonight. Barnes couldn’t keep him off the floor tonight, scoring eight points and coming away with two big steals. The shots he made? Absolutely huge.
Tennessee will stay home on Saturday, set to welcome Kentucky to town.
Final numbers
Tennessee had three players above 40 minutes tonight — Gillespie (48), Boswell (43), Ament (43).
Both Felix Okpara (10/12) and Bishop Boswell (13/11) registered double-doubles.
Tennessee out-rebounded Texas A&M 60 to 35.
Nate Ament, who Tennessee ran almost exclusively through late, finished with 23 points and 7 rebounds. He also came away with two big blocks late.
Tennessee cleaned up the turnovers late, but ended the night with 19 total.
Category: General Sports
