Ja'Kobi Gillespie, No. 17 Tennessee torches Rutgers to start Players Era Festival, 85-60

LAS VEGAS — At one point in the first half against Rutgers on Monday, Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament switched roles. Tennessee’s five-star freshman wing took over at point guard while the starting point guard moved off the ball. 

Gillespie would find some space, get the ball, then find the bottom of the net. If that didn’t work, Ament would handle the scoring. It was that easy. Or looked that easy.

Gillespie scored 23 of his career-high 32 points in the first half and finished with a career-high six 3-pointers, Ament had 17 of his 20 before halftime and made four threes of his own and No. 17 Tennessee hammered Rutgers 85-60 in the first game of the Players Era Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Up Next: No. 17 Tennessee vs. No. 3 Houston, Tuesday, 6 p.m. ET 

The Vols (6-0), who led Rutgers (4-2) by as many 36 points in the second half, now turn their attention to No. 3 Houston, Tuesday’s opponent in a 6 p.m. Eastern Time start on TNT and HBO Max. The Cougars play Syracuse at 6 p.m. ET on Monday.

JP Estrella on Monday returned from the bone bruise in his left knee that sidelined him against Tennessee State on Thursday, with the redshirt sophomore forward scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench. 

Bishop Boswell also returned after missing three games due to injury, scoring two points, recording five assists and swiping three steals in 15 minutes. Felix Okpara scored 10 points to go with six rebounds and three blocks. 

Gillespie’s 23 points in the first half was the most by a Tennessee player since Chaz Lanier had 25 in the first half last November against Baylor in the Baha Mar tournament in the Bahamas.

Gillespie got there by going 8-for-12 from the field, including 4-for-6 from the 3-point line, while adding three assists and a pair of rebounds. Ament’s 17 came on 6-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-5 from the 3-point line, with three rebounds and three assists. 

The Players Era Festival format

After 18 games over the first two days in Las Vegas, the Players Era will rank the teams 1-18 based on six factors to determine the matchups for Wednesday’s games, including a championship game and third-place game. 

The deciding factors will be records, head-to-head, a plus/minus tiebreaker, total points scored, total points allowed and Associated Press Top 25 ranking as of Monday. The Vols during Monday’s game moved up three spots in the AP Top 25 to No. 17 and moved up one spot in the Coaches Poll to No. 16. 

The top four teams will be placed in the ‘4 Kings’ category, with the top two teams playing for the Players Era championship and the No. 3 and No. 4 teams playing in the third-place game.

Teams seeded 5-14 will be matched up on Wednesday and the bottom four teams will be off Wednesday and will play Thursday at Mandalay Bay.

The other 15 teams in the Players Era field are Creighton, Baylor, Kansas, Notre Dame, St. John’s, Iowa State, Syracuse, Auburn, Oregon, Gonzaga, Alabama, Michigan, San Diego State, Maryland and UNLV.