Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols’ 68-54 win at Aggies

Here’s what we learned from the Tennessee basketball Volunteers’ victory against Texas A&M.

A 12-2 run early in the first half and a 9-0 run from the end of the first half into the second half helped propel Tennessee basketball to another convincing win. The Vols marched into College Station to dominate the Texas A&M Aggies and when their second straight after their shocking first loss of the season last week.

UT had trouble putting away Buzz Williams’ team for much of the game, leading by only nine with under eight minutes to go. However Rocky Top maintained control of the game and never truly let the Aggies back in it.

With the victory, Tennessee basketball, ranked No. 9 in the AP Poll and No. 8 in the Coaches Poll, improves to 9-1 on the year and 3-1 in the SEC. They will next visit the South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday, Jan. 12. Texas A&M falls to 6-4 and 1-3 in the SEC. They will next visit the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Here are three takeaways from the Vols’ victory.

1. Santiago Vescovi led the way.

It didn’t take too much analysis to know who carried the Vols in this one. Santiago Vescovi had what may have been his best game of the year, doing his part to make sure UT never relinquished control fo the game regardless of what type of run the Aggies went on. The sophomore scored 23 points and went an amazing 6-of-10 from the three-point line.

The Vols went 8-of-21 from beyond the arc overall but 2-of-11 without Vescovi. Simply put, Vescovi’s red-hot shooting made the difference. Although he was 1-of-3 from the free throw line, he did everything else right. Vescovi had five rebounds, three assists and even two steals with only one turnover. He went 8-of-13 from the field overall.

2. Ball movement was incredible.

This was evident a bit more in the first half, and it also has a lot to do with how great of a game Vescovi played, but Tennessee basketball was incredible with its spacing. The Vols had 23 assists on the day and only 11 turnovers, which was why, even with a struggling shooting day outside of Vescovi, they were able to maintain control of the game.

Jaden Springer led the way in assists with six, and he also had 10 points, all in the paint. He did have six turnovers too, but he did a lot of things right. Josiah-Jordan James, meanwhile, had five assists, and Keon Johnson and Victor Bailey Jr. had three and two assists respectively off the bench. Yves Pons had three two playing the four. Unselfish play was a huge benefit.

3. Rebounding was an issue.

John Fulkerson had 11 points and an amazing three blocks and a steal. Pons was his usual defensive self with two blocks. However, they were not as great rebounding down low as they usually were. The Texas A&M Aggies outrebounded UT 31-23 and came away with 14 offensive rebounds, which was a problem.

Teams continue to test Fulkerson’s toughness, and if Tennessee basketball’s offensive system under Rick Barnes is going to work, Fulkerson is going to have to be able to handle it. He, Pons, E.J. Anosike and Olivier Nkamhoua have to combine for more than 10 rebounds when a team shoots 16-of-47 from the field.