Tennessee basketball felt little pressure under the eyes of Texas.
The Vols picked up their first SEC victory, 85-71, over the Longhorns to open the league schedule at Food City Center. No. 21 Tennessee (11-4, 1-1 SEC) used a career-best 34-point effort from Ja’Kobi Gillespie to keep the Longhorns (9-6, 0-2) at arm’s length all evening.
Gillespie exploded for 12 makes from the field, splashing five 3-pointers while adding five assists. DeWayne Brown II, J.P. Estrella and Jaylen Carey all joined him with double-digits in the scoring column. Nate Ament racked up four steals on an eight-point night.
Tramon Mark paced Texas with 20 points.
Goodness gracious, Gillespie
Coming off an underwhelming outing in Tennessee’s SEC opener, Gillespie made sure he wouldn’t fall victim to the same fate.
In just the opening half, the veteran point guard outdid his entire performance against Arkansas in huge fashion. Gillespie posted 22 points on a scolding 8-for-10 shooting clip, connecting on a trio of triples. Setting aside his stroke from deep, The pride of Greeneville, Tennessee, showed an aggressive driving ability that led to 10 paint points.
He powered the Vols to a 15-3 run near the midpoint of the opening half to give his guys a healthy cushion on the scoreboard. The 6-foot-1 offensive weapon drained a pair of deep threes in the closing minute, piecing together eight straight points as Tennessee flexed over head coach Rick Barnes’ former coaching stop.
Gillespie kept the pedal to the floor, putting up 12 points while staying on the floor for the entirety of the second half, racing towards his second 30-point game of the season. His prior one came on Nov. 24, a 32-point onslaught against Rutgers.
Cashing in
After a sloppy, self-inflicted loss to the Razorbacks over the weekend, the Vols made sure to capitalize on the Longhorns’ shortcomings.
Tennessee converted 11 of its 15 free throw attempts during the opening stanza while turning nine Texas turnovers into 13 points. The Vols’ defensive success proved to be the most vital, forcing Texas to speed up offensive possessions and make careless mistakes with the basketball.
Tennessee’s get-back game continued on schedule as the home team carried a 48-33 lead into the break.
Second-half sustainability
The Vols carried their momentum from the first period seamlessly through the inbounds pass at the top of the second half, only for it to tail off.
Tennessee embarked on a 6-0 run out of halftime, drawing a timeout from frustrated Longhorns head coach Sean Miller just over a minute into the final 20. Out of its talk, Texas fought back to cut the Vols’ lead to 10 points.
Tennessee responded promptly with an emphatic Felix Okpara slam off a lob from Gillespie, sparking a mini run to grow the lead back into better graces. The Longhorns continued to flirt with a single-digit deficit, but couldn’t make things interesting enough to keep some of the home faithful from beating postgame traffic.
Gillespie fittingly capped the home scoring with a triple to set his new high in points, eliciting an ovation from those remaining in the stands.
The Vols will travel to Gainesville to face Florida on Jan. 10.
