Ahead of big game, Vols win in a rout

Tennessee prepared for its showdown with Gonzaga by posting its second straight lopsided victory at home.

Admiral Schofield scored 16 points, Kyle Alexander had 12 points and 10 rebounds and the No. 6 Volunteers breezed to a 79-51 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday.

Grant Williams finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for Tennessee (6-1) in its last tuneup before a Dec. 9 matchup with No. 1 Gonzaga in the Jerry Colangelo Classic at Phoenix. Jordan Bowden also scored 14 points.

“We’re going to go in there ready,” Alexander said of the Gonzaga game. “We’re going to use this week wisely. It’s going to be a mental week for us.

“We’re definitely going to have to work on some things.”

With a roster dominated by upperclassmen, Tennessee had enough experience to avoid overlooking its two home dates that followed an overtime loss to No. 2 Kansas and preceded its date with Gonzaga.

Tennessee trounced Eastern Kentucky 95-67 on Wednesday before its blowout against Texas A&M-CC.

“It wasn’t tough at all to focus on these two games,” Schofield said. “We scheduled them. We’ve got to win them.”

Texas A&M-CC (4-4) led 15-8 before Tennessee pulled ahead for good by going on a 14-0 run that lasted just over six minutes. Tennessee outscored Texas A&M-CC 26-4 over the last 12 minutes of the first half to grab a 34-19 lead at the break.

Myles Smith scored 16 points for Texas A&M-CC, which shot just 32.2 percent from the floor.

Buckeyes roll: Andre Wesson scored 16 points, Kaleb Wesson had 15 and No. 16 Ohio State beat visiting Minnesota 79-59 in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

C.J. Jackson and Musa Jallow each added 11 points, and Duane Washington Jr., and Kyle Young had 10 apiece to help the Buckeyes improve to 7-1.

Amir Coffey led Minnesota (6-2) with 19 points, and Dupree McBrayer added 13.