Tennessee shot well enough and rebounded well enough during Monday night’s 76-61 opening win over Mercer inside the Food City Center.
Turnovers were another matter.
The No. 18 Volunteers coughed up a staggering 19 possessions against the Southern Conference’s Bears, who only had five turnovers by comparison. Tennessee outrebounded Mercer 54-32 and shot 49.2% from the floor (30-of-61) and 41.2% from 3-point range (7-of-17).
“There is no way we should turn it over 19 times,” Tennessee 11th-year coach Rick Barnes said afterward on the Vol Network. “They were scrappy, but some of those turnovers were just us not doing what we needed to do being strong with the ball.”
Nate Ament led Tennessee with 18 points and nine rebounds, while J.P.Estrella added 12 points. The two combined on 12-of-21 shooting from the floor.