After an early December hiatus, Tennessee basketball returns to the court with a streak to break.
The last three times out have not been ideal, resulting in a trifecta of tallies in the loss column. The most recent was a 13-point loss to Illinois in Nashville with a second-half fallout. With 10 days between games, the Vols will have a chance to prove the reset when it takes on No. 11 Louisville (9-1).
It will serve as a chance to balance out the offensive attack that has struggled with the inefficient newcomer duo of Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament. The senior-freshman attack has accounted for a 33-for-114 (28.9%) shooting stripe from the field.
Louisville has also worked with a gauntlet stretch, facing Arkansas, Indiana and Memphis in its last three outings. Senior guard Ryan Conwell leads the scoring attack with 19.4 points per game, but freshman phenom Mikel Brown follows behind at 16.6 points and a team-high 5.1 assists per outing.
Brown, however, will be inactive after going through warmups.
Follow along for live updates from The Daily Beacon.
Live updates
FINAL: Tennessee 83, Louisville 62
3:56 2H: Tennessee 75, Louisville 53
The crowd is filing out of Food City Center. Tennessee has this one all but secured with less thanfour minutes remaining.
7:11 2H: Tennessee 67, Louisville 49
Amari Evans is giving quality effort on the offensive end with seven points on perfect efficiency. Tennessee is keeping the margin where it wants it.
11:23 2H: Tennessee 59, Louisville 44
Nate Ament adds another three. The Cardinals are trying to pull back in, but a relentless Bishop Boswell is not allowing it.
14:40 2H: Tennessee 53, Louisville 38
Make it six makes on eight attempts.
They exchange 3-point buckets out of the timeout. Ethan Burg follows with a bucket on a cross-court feed from Ament.
Food City Center is alive again, and Tennessee leads 53-38 off the extremely fast 9-0 run.
15:46 2H: Tennessee 44, Louisville 36
Nate Ament and Ja’Kobi Gillespie have combined for Tennessee’s last six shots, adding four makes. The two are getting going.
19:14 2H: Ja’Kobi Gillespie buries a corner three to open second-half scoring.
HALFTIME: Tennessee 34, Louisville 27
The Vols are shooting 52% (15-for-29) from the field in the first half. Louisville is at 36% (9-for-25) without Mikel Brown. Tennessee is holding the Cardinals to multiple scoring droughts, but an inability to set up the offense has the Vols struggling to pull away.
2:08 1H: Tennessee 32, Louisville 24
The Vols’ defense has Louisville in a 2:01 scoring drought, but things aren’t much better for the home squad. Ethan Burg gets trapped in the backcourt and Tennessee is forced to call a timeout.
3:48 1H: Tennessee 29, Louisville 24
Sloppy basketball has the Cardinals back in the game. Tennessee’s offense still cannot get anything established, and is getting dominated in the paint when Jaylen Carey is not imposing will. He will be at the line after the break.
6:38 1H: Tennessee 27, Louisville 19
Jaylen Carey with a clean form tackle on the court, but that’s a foul in basketball. After the Vols ran out to a 14-2 run, six misses on their next seven shots have this game within 10 points.
11:29 1H: Tennessee 19, Louisville 11
J.P. Estrella swats a shot out of bounds for the under-12 timeout. Tennessee rolling behind a 14-2 run.
12:49 1H: Tennessee 17, Louisville 9
The Vols jump out to a 6-0 run as Louisville forced multiple early shot clock shots. Hadley travels, and the Cardinals want a timeout.
15:50 1H: Tennessee 10, Louisville 7
Felix Okpara slams one home to bring us to the under-16 timeout. Tennessee is shooting 4-for-6 from the field, while Louisville is at 3-for-7.
16:14 1H: Bishop Boswell goes 1-for-3 at the free-throw line, but makes up for it with a steal on the inbounds play. Nate Ament finishes for a free bucket.
18:55 1H: With the shot clock expiring, Ja’Kobi Gillespie chucks a three and it falls for the first points of the night.
20:00 1H: Tennessee wins the opening tip
Starting lineups
Tennessee
Guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie
Guard Bishop Boswell
Forward Nate Ament
Forward DeWayne Brown II
Center Felix Okpara
Louisville
Guard J’Vonne Hadley
Guard Ryan Conwell
Guard Isaac McKneely
Guard Adrian Wooley
Forward Snanda Fru
How to watch Tennessee basketball
The Vols and Cardinals will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN with Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes on the call.
Mike Keith and Chris Lofton will depict the action on the local Vol Network affiliate.
Freshman DeWayne Brown II to earn first start
Times are tough for Tennessee basketball.
As the holidays near, the flump is apparent. The No. 20 Vols (7-3) are in the midst of a three-game skid, and learned on Dec. 9 that the longest-tenured player, Cade Phillips, would be lost for the season due to shoulder surgery.
Insert No. 11 Louisville (9-1), fresh off a 26-point strike over Western foe Memphis, and freshman forward DeWayne Brown II. Tennessee faces Louisville on Tuesday, and that will mark Brown’s first career start, head coach Rick Barnes announced Dec. 15.
“He’s earned it,” Barnes said. “Just that’s it. He simply, with his consistency, he earned it.”
The 6-foot-8, 251-pound Hoover, Ala., native has been taking strides since he arrived in the summer. With multiple bigs battling injury throughout workouts, Brown earned his chances to shine early.
That has catapulted him to a starting role — with help to another frontcourt injury — which Barnes continues to credit to his work ethic. Brown is 5.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in 13.3 minutes of action per night.
He did not cut out a role in games against Houston and Kansas, but his impact since has been ever-needed. Brown responded to the missed action by posting a sparking 4-point, 5-rebound, 3-assist performance against Syracuse in a season-high 22 minutes. He carved out nine minutes against Illinois, scoring five points on 2-for-2 shooting and hauling in two offensive boards.
“We’re going to base everything we do based on everyday practice habits and consistency because that’s what we haven’t had,” Barnes said. “Everybody has shown glimpses of this or that. We want to see consistency and, those are the guys. But I look at our front line, to be honest with you, whether it’s J.P. (Estrella) or Jaylen (Carey) or Fe(lix Okpara), those guys are all starters to me. But the fact is, the guy that’s going start is going to be the most consistent guys.”
