KNOXVILLE — A typical college basketball season can provide multiple surprises.
Saturday night inside the Food City Center wasn’t one of them.
A Tennessee team ranked No. 8 in the country hosted a Vanderbilt team languishing in 13th in the Southeastern Conference standings, and it was every bit the mismatch that the 20-point spread by Las Vegas oddsmakers suggested. The Volunteers built a 10-point lead before the first media timeout, led by 31 at halftime and cruised to an 88-53 crushing of the Commodores.
“I thought we were terrific in the first half, and I honestly think a lot of that had to do with the respect that we have for Vanderbilt,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said. “We’ve been in so many tough games with them, and our older guys understand the game in a mature way. Because of the respect we have for them, our guys came out ready to play.”
Dalton Knecht and Zakai Zeigler scored 14 points apiece to lead the Vols, while Josiah-Jordan James added 13 and Santiago Vescovi 12. That quartet combined to make 12 of 20 attempts from 3-point range for a 60% success clip.
Vescovi, the fifth-year senior guard from Uruguay, became the 19th player in Tennessee history to eclipse 1,500 points for his career.
“Coming in, I knew it was going to be a great ride,” Vescovi said. “I’ve been surrounded by great people the whole time I’ve been here. The points are truly something I don’t care much about. It’s not that I don’t care, but it’s something I’m just not thinking about.
“I’m just trying to do the right thing every time on the court. It’s great to hear that, but it’s more about just how great the ride has been with my teammates.”
Tennessee improved to 19-6 overall and to 9-3 in conference contests, while Vanderbilt dropped to 7-18 and to 2-10 within the league. The Vols have won 13 of the past 14 series meetings with the Commodores, sweeping this year’s regular-season series by a combined 48 points.
Knecht, James and Vescovi all made 3-pointers within the game’s first four minutes to stake Tennessee to a quick 13-3 lead. Another Vescovi 3-pointer at the 12:10 mark of the first half increased the advantage to 23-7, and Jonas Aidoo helped the Vols cruise past the 20-point bulge with a layup and a putback basket on consecutive possessions to make it 30-8.
The incredibly early nail in the coffin took place with 6:39 before halftime, when Zeigler connected on a 3-pointer and the Commodores were whistled for a foul away from the ball. That gave the Vols possession, and they capitalized with Zeigler lofting an inbounds pass to Aidoo for a dunk and a 35-8 advantage.
Tennessee took a 51-20 lead into halftime, racking up 16 assists while committing only two turnovers. Vanderbilt had only two first-half assists and turned it over 13 times.
“That’s as good of a 20 minutes as we’ve put together all year, and our older guys were the ones who were responsible for it,” Barnes said. “When we’re moving people and we’re moving the ball, that’s when we’re at our best. We tried to create some confusion and to get some separation to get our guys’ feet set and get them into rhythm shots.
“We love it when we’re sharing the ball like that.”
A 3-pointer by James 16 seconds into the second half resumed the onslaught at 54-20.
The Vols took their largest lead at 72-31 on a Tobe Awaka dunk with 11:27 remaining. Had that 41-point margin been maintained, Tennessee would have replaced its 76-38 downing of Vanderbilt in 2014 as the largest victory over its in-state rival.
Liking every shot
Tennessee freshman guard Cameron Carr came off the bench to score eight points, which matched his total from his first 10 appearances this season.
The 6-foot-5, 175-pounder from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has played 22 minutes against SEC opposition and has taken 12 shots.
“He’s probably leading the nation in shots per minute,” Barnes said. “You’ve seen him in practice. He’s a guy who can get buckets quick. It’s when he relaxes. When he goes and searches for it, he gets in a hurry.
“He got some extended minutes tonight, and I thought he settled down a little bit.”
When asked if he has a green light to shoot, Carr smiled and said, “No.” When asked what he could do to get one, he said, “Stop air-balling.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.