No. 20 Tennessee Basketball hammers Gardner-Webb, 94-52

It took No. 20 Tennessee five missed shots and just over three minutes to wakeup Sunday afternoon at Food City Center. Once a shot finally went in, when Ja’Kobi Gillespie hit a three with 16:42 left, the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs had no chance of running with the Vols. 

Tennessee answered the also start with 17 straight points and 24 of the next 26, running away with a 94-52 win. The Vols in the win tied a program record with a 43rd-straight non-conference win.

Gillespie and Amaree Abram scored 15 each to lead Tennessee (9-3), with Gillespie adding nine assists. Jaylen Carey had 12 points and six rebounds and J.P. Estrella had 10 points and seven boards. Nate Ament had eight points, five rebounds and three assists and DeWayne Brown scored six points and had a team-high 14 rebounds.

Gardner-Webb (2-13) got 14 points from Curtis Williams and 13 more from DJ Jefferson, the former Tennessee guard who transferred after the 2023-24 season. 

It was a 17-0 run for the Vols when Amari Evans scored with 9:41 left in the first half — seven minutes after Tennessee’s first points — making the lead 24-7.

The first half would end with Tennessee on a 14-2 run over the final 3:56, taking a 52-19 lead into halftime. It was the first time the Vols had held an opponent to 20 points or less in a half since January 21, when No. 14 Mississippi State scored just 16.

Tennessee had 10 of 11 players score in the first half — freshman guard Clarence Massamba was scoreless in five minutes — with seven scoring five or more.

Estrella had a team-high 10 points and six rebounds in the first half, Gillespie scored eight, Carey had seven points and four boards and Troy Henderson had six on a pair of 3-pointers. The Vols shot 57.9% from the field in the first half and went 5-for-15 at the 3-point line. 

The fast first half saw Tennessee double Gardner-Webb in rebounding, 26-13, while grabbing nine offensive rebounds and scoring 12 second-chance points. The Vols also had 34 points in the paint and 32 points off the bench. 

Up Next: No. 20 Tennessee vs. South Carolina St., Dec. 30

The competition won’t be much different when Tennessee is back on the court on December 30. The Vols host South Carolina State (1-12) in an 8 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network at Food City Center. 

KenPom.com has South Carolina State at No. 362 overall out of 365 in its ratings. Gardner-Webb, at No. 359 overall, was projected to lose by 38 at Tennessee according to KenPom. The Vols are projected to win by 37 against South Carolina State. 

Tennessee closed as a 42.5-point favorite against Gardner-Webb, according to BetMGM.

The Vols open SEC play at No. 14 Arkansas on January 3 and open the home conference schedule against Texas on January 6.

Ethan Burg misses game with illness

Sophomore guard Ethan Burg did not play against Gardner-Webb due to an illness.

Burg had five points and an assist in 12 minutes off the bench in the 83-62 win over No. 11 Louisville on Tuesday. The 23-year-old, who signed with Tennessee in July after playing four years of professional basketball in Israel, is averaging 3.5 points, 2.0 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game this season.

“I thought he played the way we need him to play,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said during his postgame press conference Tuesday night. “He wasn’t too anxious. That’s what has hurt him.”