Vols pull away late from Wofford, ready for Maui
Tennessee was neither dynamic nor dreadful Tuesday night during its 82-61 win over Wofford in the Food City Center.
In their lone game between last Friday night’s victory at Wisconsin and next week’s Maui Invitational, the No. 7 Volunteers broke free with a 10-0 run after the Southern Conference’s Terriers pulled within 36-34 on a Jackson Sivills 3-pointer 15 seconds into the second half. Dalton Knecht, the reigning Southeastern Conference player of the week, tallied a layup, a 3-pointer and a free throw during Tennessee’s decisive run.
“They had a nice game plan, but we found a way to work through it,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said on the Vol Network. “We still have to get more from our inside game, and when we got up a couple of times, I thought our older guys made some really silly decisions going for steals and showing a lack of discipline at the end of the clock.
“We moved with no purpose at times, but that’s over and done with, and we got it done.”
Knecht led Tennessee (3-0) with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor and a 5-of-6 showing from the freethrow line. Jordan Gainey added 16 points on the strength of four 3-pointers, while Santiago Vescovi chipped in 11 and made three from long range.
The Vols shot 45.8% from the floor and 40.7% from behind the 3-point line.
Josiah-Jordan James and Vescovi each made 3-pointers within the game’s first minute to put the Vols up 6-0, but the expected runaway — Tennessee was a 31-point favorite — never materialized. A Vescovi 3-pointer at the 1:21 mark gave the Vols their biggest first-half lead at 34-25, but the Terriers closed on a 6-2 run to pull within 36-31 at intermission.
“In the first half, we didn’t rebound the ball at all,” Barnes said. “We gave them nine points in the first half when we didn’t rebound it, but give them credit. It was obvious from the get-go that they wanted us to settle for threes.”
The Vols will leave for Hawaii on Thursday, with their Maui opener against Syracuse set for Monday afternoon at 2:30.
“It’s going to be three really tough games against an outstanding field,” Barnes said. “We’ve got to get there and get acclimated, and obviously we’re going there to win a tournament.”