Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols 74-68 loss at Kansas

In a hard-fought matchup, Tennessee basketball dropped its SEC/Big 12 Challenge to the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks. Here’s what we learned from the Volunteers.

Despite keeping things close, Tennessee basketball could not pull off a major upset at the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday. The Vols cut it to three within five minutes after trailing by 13 early in the second half, but they fell in the end 74-68 with Peyton Manning and Phillip Fulmer in attendance.

After a scoreless first three minutes, UT jumped out to an seven-point lead early in the first half. But Kansas rallied and took a 37-30 lead into halftime, building on that in the second half before the Vols fought back.

With the win, Kansas improves to 16-3 overall. Tennessee basketball, which saw a two-game winning streak snapped, fell to 12-7 overall and will host the Texas A&M Aggies on Tuesday. Here are three takeaways from the Vols’ loss at the No. 3 ranked team in the nation.

1. Everything came down to Udoka Azubuike’s presence.

John Fulkerson’s 15 points and 12 rebounds are commendable, and his ability to stretch the floor is pretty impressive as well. But this whole game was about Udoka Azubuike. When he was in the game, the Kansas Jayhawks dominated, and when he was out, they struggled. Azubuike finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. He added four blocks.

So what made this game close? Well, Azubuike got in foul trouble early, and he had four fouls halfway through the second half. As a result, Bill Self had to pull him a lot, and Kansas had no backup post players, in particular David McCormack, due to the suspensions. UT took advantage, and that’s what made it close. This is why those suspensions were a major factor.

2. Yves Pons and Jordan Bowden returned

They have been in major slumps, but both came through in this game. Yves Pons got it going early, and he finished with a team-leading 24 points. He hit two-of-four three-pointers, but he was aggressive inside and hit six-of-seven free throws. That allowed him to also grab seven rebounds and block three shots despite early foul trouble.

Jordan Bowden, meanwhile, finally found his stroke again in the second half, where he dropped 19 points after being held scoreless in the first half. Bowden was three-for-five from the three-point line, and he brought Tennessee basketball back into the game. Despite this loss, the Vols are in good shape if Bowden continues his return.

3. Almost all younger players were useless.

Josiah-Jordan James was a five-star, recruit. We seem to forget that. It didn’t matter in this game. He had no points, missing all six shot attempts, and he had six turnovers. Sure, he had four assists and even rebounds, but those other issues were way worse. Meanwhile, Olivier Nkamhoua was supposed to be developing, but he was held scoreless and had three turnovers and no rebounds.

Drew Pember, Uros Plavsic and Davonte Gaines also were scoreless, and Jalen Johnson had one point. The only non-veteran who did anything was Santiago Vescovi. He had nine points and three assists, and in this game, he had no turnovers, which is a major step forward. That’s one encouraging sign, but it doesn’t make up for how poorly all the other underclassmen played.