Tennessee was back home Tuesday night. The Volunteers were back in business, too.
After losing three consecutive games to the top-10 likes of Purdue, Kansas and North Carolina, the No. 17 Vols overpowered George Mason 87-66 inside the Food City Center to improve to 5-3 before Saturday’s home test against No. 20 Illinois. Junior forward Jonas Aidoo paced Tennessee with a career-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, which included a 2-for-2 clip from 3-point range.
Aidoo also had eight rebounds, while fifth-year senior guard Josiah-Jordan James had a well-rounded effort with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists. Sophomore forward Tobe Awaka chipped in a career-high 11 points and seven rebounds, with Tennessee as a team outrebounding the Patriots (7-2) by a 43-27 margin.
“I thought the guys really tried to play the right way against a good basketball team,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said on the Vol Network. “They play a controlled tempo, and we scored 87 points. I thought we did a good job of being aggressive without fouling, and the rebounding was good.
“The guys had the discipline we’re talking about in terms of the game plan.”
Barnes started Zakai Zeigler, Santiago Vescovi, Dalton Knecht, James and Aidoo, with Knecht returning from the rolled ankle he suffered during the waning moments of last Wednesday’s 100-92 loss at North Carolina in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Knecht scored a career-high 37 points in Chapel Hill and tallied 10 on Tuesday.
The Vols sandwiched a 13-0 run around halftime to turn a 33-26 advantage into a 46-26 runaway. James provided Tennessee its first double-digit lead at 37-26 on a 3-pointer with 46 seconds before the half, and a Jordan Gainey layup off an assist by Zeigler just before the horn gave the Vols a 39-26 lead.
A Knecht layup from James and an Aidoo 3-pointer within the first minute of the second half allowed Tennessee to extend its advantage to 44-26.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.