Kansas rallies from down 12 to beat No. 17 Tennessee in Players Era Festival, 81-76

LAS VEGAS — Tennessee Basketball  looked to be on its way to three wins in three days and a third-place finish in the Players Era Festival Wednesday night. Then the Vols ran out of steam and ran out of answers against Kansas.

The Jayhawks rallied from down 12 points with 15 minutes left to upend No. 17 Tennessee 81-76 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The Vols (7-1) finished fourth in the 18-team field with the loss. Nate Ament led Tennessee with 20 points and nine rebounds and JP Estrella had 10 points off the bench. 

Ja’Kobi Gillespie finished with 11 points while shooting 5-for-18 from the field, including 1-for-9 from the 3-point line. Jaylen Carey had 11 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. 

Kansas (6-2) got 17 points from Melvin Council Jr., including 12 in the second half, while Elmarko Jackson scored 17 of his own. Tre White had 14 before fouling out and Flory Bidunga scored 11.

Tennessee stretched its lead to 12, its biggest of the game, when Ament hit two free throws at the 15:06 mark. Kansas got back in it with an 8-0 run over the next two minutes, while the Vols missed four straight shots and went over three minutes without scoring. 

The Vols got the lead back to six on two Ament free throws with 8:21 left, after he grabbed an Estrella miss at the foul line, but Kansas fought back with a pair of three-point plays to tie the game with 7:25 left. 

Kansas took the lead for good on a Paul Mbiya layup with 5:36 left, then added to the lead with a Jackson dunk on the next trip down. A Jamari McDowell three with 4:16 left got the lead to five.

Tennessee shot just 29.0% from the field in the second half and went 2-for-12 from three, after shooting 51.6% in the first half, including 5-for- 13 from three.

Tennessee led by as many as nine points in the first half

Tennessee led 41-34 at halftime after leading for just over 14 minutes and by as much as nine points in the first half. 

Ament led the Vols in the first half with 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting while adding six rebounds. Carey picked up where he left off against Houston on Tuesday — he had 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench in the win over the Cougars — with six points, four rebounds and four assists before halftime against Kansas.

Carey late in the first half followed his fourth assist with a steal and transition dunk to cap a 7-0 run that gave Tennessee its biggest lead in the first half, at 41-32.

Kansas got 14 from White in the first half after he went 3-for-3 from the field, making two 3-pointers and all six of his foul shots.

What’s next for Tennessee Basketball

After three games in three days, Tennessee is off until Tuesday, when the Vols play at Syracuse in an ACC-SEC Challenge game at the JMA Wireless Dome. The Orange went 0-3 in the Players Era Festival, losing to Kansas, No. 3 Houston and No. 15 Iowa State. 

Tennessee will then play No. 13 Illinois on Saturday, December 6, in a neutral-site game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

The Vols aren’t back home until they host No. 6 Louisville at Food City Center on Tuesday, December 16.