NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vols didn’t have enough gas left in the tank.
No. 13 Tennessee basketball suffered its third consecutive loss to No. 14 Illinois, falling 75-62 at Bridgestone Arena during Music City Madness. The Vols (7-3) dominated on the glass, racking up a season-high 23 offensive rebounds, but failed to rally on offense when the Illini (7-2) connected on clutch buckets as time ticked away.
Tennessee was outscored 43-28 during the second half.
Ja’Kobi Gillepsie paced the Vols with 15 points, grabbing five boards and tallying five assists.
Keaton Wagler and Tomislav Ivisic led all scorers for the Illini, tallying 16 points apiece.
Postseason feel
For a non-conference matchup in early December, the split crowd in the Music City made things feel way more like a game in the middle of March.
The intensity transitioned to the floor as the Vols and Illini traded punches in the early stages of action, each side grabbing the upper hand through a series of scrappy sequences. Illinois maintained a lead for a good chunk of the first half, draining a handful of momentum-altering shots following Tennessee’s blunders at the free-throw line and on defense. The Vols distributed the scoring throughout the lineup, hanging tight on the scoreboard through some strong efforts on the glass.
The swings continued, but Tennessee managed to mount a late 5-0 run to carry a lead into halftime, a feat it could feel strongly about after a hard-nosed 20 minutes.
The Illini began the second half with the tenacity they failed to show at the tail end of the first. Illinois worked towards its largest lead of the evening just past the midway point of the stanza after the Vols went cold from the floor. The visitors’ lead promptly grew to double-digits, digging a tough hole for Tennessee to dig out of. Illinois drained 11 triples, one of the biggest deciders on the final statsheet.
Crashing the glass
The Vols dictated the standard on the boards to make up for some of their shortcomings.
Tennessee racked up 13 offensive rebounds in the opening half, a number that outweighed Illinois’ 11 total rebounds as both teams headed into the locker room. The Vols’ tally in the half alone bested two of their game totals from this campaign.
Cade Phillips, Felix Okpara and Jaylen Carey forged the path to earn crucial extra possessions for their guys. The blue-collar effort aided the Vols to 22 second-chance points, a number that helped make up the difference when initial shots didn’t fall.
Stripe struggles
After Okpara drew the game’s first foul and missed both shots from the charity stripe, Tennessee’s bad mojo at the line set in.
A contest with some quick whistles awarded the Vols nine free throw chances in the first frame, only cashing in on three of them. Illinois didn’t receive a free throw attempt until the second half, increasing the weight of the Vols’ missed opportunity to gain a leg up in one of the important margins of a close battle.
Tennessee ended its night 8-for-18 from the line.
