Tennessee basketball dominates Saint Joseph’s 102-66: Three takeaways

The Tennessee basketball Volunteers dominated the Hawks 102-66.

A 16-0 run to build a 20-4 lead in the first half helped propel Tennessee basketball to an easy 102-66 blowout victory over the Saint Joseph’s Hawks Monday night. Rick Barnes’ team moved to 5-0 in the process.

Rocky Top had six players score double figures in the win, and the only time they trailed was when it was 3-2 early on. Saint Joseph’s fell to 0-5 on the night with the loss in a game that was added to the schedule for both teams just 10 days ago.

Up next for the Vols will be a matchup with the USC Upstate Spartans Wednesday. They’ll then have a week off before beginning SEC play at the Missouri Tigers on Dec. 30. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s Monday night win.

1. Shooting touch finally arrived, making for a flawless offense.

It’s amazing how dangerous the Vols can be when their shot is falling. They finally got in a rhythm tonight, hitting 10 of 24 three-point attempts and shooting 50 percent from the field and 81.1 percent from the free throw line. Because of that red-hot shooting, they had 23 assists as a team and only 10 turnovers, and they broke 100 points.

Victor Bailey Jr. led the way with 18 points. Santiago Vescovi added 16 and five rebounds, and then the two star freshmen, Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer, had 12 and 10 points respectively while Johnson had five assists off the bench. However, the forwards coming alive offensively made a huge difference as well, and that leads to our next takeaway.

2. Inside presence was too much.

Due to the outside shooting, Tennessee basketball’s inside-out game was amazing. It allowed John Fulkerson to come away with 10 points and five assists. E.J. Anosike finally emerged with nine points off the bench, and Olivier Nkamhoua had six points. UT also dominated the boards 45-27 and had 13 offensive rebounds. Fulkerson had six rebounds, and Anosike had five.

The big story was Yves Pons, though. After an offensive slump early this season, Pons suffered an embarrassing block early at the hands of 6’4″ St. Joseph’s player Jack Forrest, who drew a technical for excessively celebrating the block. That sparked Pons, and he finally emerged on that side of the ball, coming away with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He also had nine rebounds.

3. Perimeter defense continues to be elite.

This is the most points the Vols have allowed all season and the first time a team crossed the 60-point mark against them. However, they still held the Saint Joseph’s Hawks to under 40 percent shooting and just 20.8 percent from beyond the arc. The reason they allowed more points was simply due to the tempo of the game, which was much more fast-paced.

How did Tennessee basketball respond to the fast pace? They came away with seven steals and forced 18 turnovers. Johnson was the defensive star, as he had three steals and two of the team’s five blocks. Anosike also had two steals, and Uros Plavsic emerged with a block. Simply put, this unit was aggressive in every way, and Johnson, a freshman, continues to be the star defensively.