Tennessee basketball: Vols 2019-2020 top 10 individual game performances

5. Yves Pons at No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks

24 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 assists

Kansas wins 74-68

Yes, we have the performance of two players in a loss here. But how could anybody leave off Yves Pons with the way he played in this game? Tennessee basketball was facing a top five team, the No. 3 ranked team in the country to be exact, and Pons was tasked with helping John Fulkerson be aggressive down low while also stretching the floor.

He played his role beautifully. For the game, Pons had one of his solid shooting afternoons, going eight-of-14 from the field, hitting two-of-four three-point attempts, and making six-of-seven free throw attempts. When Pons gets going like that offensively, he often becomes unstoppable, a testament to the way he has developed under Rick Barnes.

Beyond that offensive production, Pons was all over the court, as he usually is, finishing with seven rebounds and three blocks. He also had no turnovers, so he was aggressive in every way without giving the ball away, which is a huge deal. He kept UT in this one and deserves a ton of credit for doing that.

Just like Fulkerson and Udoka Azubuike, Pons got into foul trouble, finishing with four as well. It’s worth noting that Jordan Bowden also had four, and Bowden, Pons and Fulkerson were the only players to score double-figures for the Vols. Combining that with Azubuike getting into foul trouble, and this was a ticky tack game. Those usually work against Pons, but they didn’t here.