If a 15-0 run isn’t enough to put away an opponent, why not add a 17-0 surge?
The 13th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers scored the final 17 first-half points in Tuesday night’s 86-44 blistering of Presbyterian inside Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols used a 15-0 run to turn an early 10-8 deficit into a 23-10 lead, and the 17 straight points catapulted them to a 45-21 lead at intermission.
In Tennessee’s previous outing, last Friday’s 80-69 topping of visiting Tennessee Tech, the Vols trailed at the break by a point.
“We’re very methodical with our game preparation and try to go about all of them the same way, and you’re hoping your guys are locked in, but sometimes you never really know until the ball is tossed up,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said in a news conference after his team improved to 5-1. “We did come back and play with much more of a purpose in terms of really trying to make every possession count.”
The Vols had a balanced scoring effort, with Kennedy Chandler and Justin Powell tallying 15 points apiece, Victor Bailey 14 and Santiago Vescovi 13. Chandler also collected seven assists and seven steals, tying the program’s single-game steal standard.
Chandler has 12 steals in Tennessee’s last two games.
“My defense gets my offense going,” Chandler said. “Coach Barnes tells me that I should use my quickness on the defensive end and not just the offensive end, so I’ve been taking that in. I’m pressuring the ball more now and picking up higher now and not waiting.
“It’s hard in practice when I’m doing that against Zakai (Zeigler), but I know if I can do it against him, I can do it against any guard in college basketball.”
Powell’s 15 points transpired via a 5-for-5 showing from 3-point range.
“That was good, but there is always the next game,” Powell said. “We got a good win, which is really good, but we’ve got our eyes set forward to Colorado and then Texas Tech. We’ve got to keep our eyes forward, but it feels good.”
Tennessee made 33 of 59 overall shots for a 55.9% success rate, and the Vols were 14-of-27 from 3-point range (51.9%). The Vols suffered three turnovers in the game’s first four minutes but only had one the rest of the half, and they helped force Presbyterian into 12 first-half miscues and 25 for the game.
Vols junior guard Josiah-Jordan James missed his third straight contest with a finger injury.
“Josiah is day-to-day,” Barnes said. “He’s on the mend with it, and we just want to be careful with it. He means so much to our team and our program.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.