A thin roster and foul troubles did not serve as a winning combination Tuesday night for Tennessee.
Playing a third straight game without both senior guard Josiah-Jordan James and freshman forward Julian Phillips, the No. 11 Volunteers committed 24 fouls during a 68-63 loss at No. 25 Texas A&M. The Aggies capitalized by making 28 of 34 free throws, with Wade Taylor IV connecting on 16 of 17 attempts in his 25-point performance.
Taylor made two free throws with 17 seconds left to put the Aggies up 66-63, and he made two more after Zakai Zeigler missed a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining.
“It’s difficult, because we pretty much went the distance with eight guys basically getting the minutes,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said on a Zoom call. “I’m really proud of the effort, because we fought, but we’ve just got to stop fouling 3-point shooters. They’re a team that gets to the foul line anyway, and we’ve got to stop.”
Jonas Aidoo fouled out for Tennessee, which fell to 20-8 overall and 9-6 in Southeastern Conference contests, while Jahmai Mashack finished with four fouls. Zeigler was among four Vols players who finished with three.
The two teams combined for 42 fouls, with Tennessee winding up 10-of-14 on free-throw attempts.
Texas A&M (21-7, 13-2) took its biggest lead at 50-41 on two Julius Marble free throws at the 12-minute mark, but a Zeigler layup pulled Tennessee within 57-56 with 7:02 remaining. A Zeigler 3-pointer with 2:18 left got the Vols within a point again at 62-61, and a Zeigler layup with 25 seconds left pulled them within 64-63.
“The difference tonight was the free-throw line,” Barnes said. “They got there 34 times, and they do go downhill. We put ourselves in position to win. We just didn’t close it out in the end.”
The Vols took a 9-0 lead within the game’s first four minutes, collecting a 3-pointer from Mashack and a layup by Zeigler, and a Santiago Vescovi 3-pointer at the 8:49 mark kept them in control at 18-10. The Aggies then started carving into the lead and briefly went up 31-29 on an Andre Gordon 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining, but Tennessee produced a 31-31 tie at halftime on a Tobe Awaka layup at the buzzer.
Vescovi and Zeigler each scored 14 for Tennessee, while Olivier Nkamhoua added 13.
Baseball Vols roll
Tennessee’s third-ranked baseball team evened its record at 2-2 Tuesday with a 10-0 blanking of Alabama A&M before 4,550 fans at Lindsey Nelson Stadium that was shortened to eight innings.
Hollis Fanning, Jake Fitzgibbons, AJ Russell and Jacob Bimbi each pitched two innings for the Vols and combined on 13 strikeouts. Jared Dickey and Blake Burke combined to go 5-for-5 at the plate, with each collecting a home run.
Tuesday marked the first of 15 consecutive home games that the Vols will play before opening SEC competition at Missouri on March 17.
“We now have 14 games remaining before SEC play, and they’re all at home,” Vols coach Tony Vitello told reporters. “We need to leave no stone unturned. I know I say that a lot, but with this team more than any, we’ve got to leave no stone unturned.”
Vitello did not have any update when asked about the eligibility of Kansas transfer shortstop Maui Ahuna, who has yet to play this season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.