In what seemed like a mirror image of their 103-62 exhibition win over the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears, Tennessee basketball overcame an extremely sluggish start to defeat against the UT Martin Skyhawks 90-62 in the 2021-2022 season-opener for both teams. The Vols did it behind 20 points from their freshman point guard Kennedy Chandler and another 20 from Santiago Vescovi.
Despite being the only team in the nation with no returning players and entering the year with a new head coach in Ryan Ridder nearly a year after the shocking death of five-year head coach Anthony Stewart, UT Martin put up a fight against Rick Barnes’ seventh team on Rocky Top. They went up 20-16 seven minutes into the first half and only trailed by one within five minutes.
The Vols then turned it on, finishing the first half on a 16-7 run and pulling away in the second half, going up by as many as 32 at one point. Up next for Rocky Top is a Sunday afternoon matchup with the East Tennessee State Buccaneers. UT Martin next has its home opener against the Miami Hamilton Harriers Saturday. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s victory.
1. Three-pointers rained down from Rocky Top.
This partially explains why the first half was close. The Vols just hadn’t hit their stride yet from downtown. However, with John Fulkerson still out due to a broken thumb, they had to score more from outside. Once the shots fell, it was over in Knoxville, Tenn. at Thompson-Boling Arena. Just like the exhibition, they dominated from outside, hitting school-record 17 threes on 38 attempts.
Chandler was a perfect 4-for-4, and Vescovi was 6-of-11. Auburn Tigers transfer Justin Powell went 3-of-5 off the bench en route to 13 points, and Victor Bailey Jr. added two. Even Brandon Huntley-Hatfield got in on the action with one, as did Olivier Nkamhoua. Tennessee basketball team didn’t attempt more than 28 threes all last season, so this was insane.
2. Veterans who struggled to score stepped up elsewhere.
Bailey, Nkamhoua and Josiah-Jordan James are all in their third year playing for Barnes. They’re experienced in the system. It wasn’t their night scoring. However, they were huge elsewhere. James managed to still become a star. Despite going 0-for-5 from three and only scoring two points, he had an amazing five steals and four blocks. He also had five rebounds.
Nkamhoua did have 11 points, but it was on 4-of-10 shooting. He really stepped up on the glass, collecting 14 rebounds, including five offensive rebounds, and he had two steals and two blocks. Bailey came off the bench and only hit those two threes but was 2-for-8 overall. However, he had three assists, a steal and no turnovers.
3. First-half Interior defense was a problem.
There were positives for the Vols down low without Fulkerson. Nkamhoua had 11 points, and Uros Plavsic and Huntley-Hatfield combined to go 6-for-11 from the field with six and seven points respectively. However, defense was an issue down low, particularly in the first half. Nkamhoua and Plavsic got into foul trouble, and Nkamhoua eventually fouled out.
On the other side, two of UT Martin’s three players to score double figures were forwards. KK Curry led the way with 15 points, and David Didenko had 11 points. All but one of those points combined were in the paint, as were five of KJ Simon’s six field goals en route to his 14 points.
You can say Tennessee basketball will fix this with Fulkerson coming back soon, but UT Martin was without Bernie Andre and Josh Endicott, who will be their two post players. As a result, this is a huge concern. The Vols severely missed Yves Pons in this game, and even when Fulkerson comes back, they have to find out a way to offset his departure. Everything else was fine.