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Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols’ 69-54 win at Colorado

By Caleb Calhoun

Dec 4, 2021; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Kennedy Chandler (1) shoots the ball past guard Julian Hammond III (1) and guard Elijah Parquet (24) and center Lawson Lovering (34) in the first half at CU Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 4, 2021; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Kennedy Chandler (1) shoots the ball past guard Julian Hammond III (1) and guard Elijah Parquet (24) and center Lawson Lovering (34) in the first half at CU Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /
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Despite falling behind 8-0 in the early minutes, Tennessee basketball came away with a relatively dominating win over the Colorado Buffaloes. The Vols were locked in a battle early, but after falling behind 17-16, they closed out the final eight minutes of the half on an 18-7 run. Colorado never got within five in the second half.

With the win, the Vols, ranked No. 13 in the AP Poll and No. 15 in the Coaches Poll, improve to 6-1 on the year. Colorado, meanwhile, falls to 6-3. This is the first official road win for Rocky Top and their second win away from home.

Up next for UT will be the Texas Tech Red Raiders Tuesday at the Jimmy V Classic in New York. Colorado’s next game is a home matchup Wednesday with the Eastern Washington Eagles. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s victory.

1. It was the Kennedy Chandler show.

Earlier in the week, Kennedy Chandler tied the school record for steals in a game with seven. He’s mostly been playing like a true point guard who can score. In this game, though, he decided to step up as a scorer, and it paid off.

With just one three-pointer made, Chandler dropped 29 points in the game. He was 13-of-20 from the field, consistently slashing to the basket and dominating from the midrange. The post game was again relatively quiet offensively, but Chandler’s play opened things up for John Fulkerson to take advantage, and he had 10 points. However, Chandler was the star,

2. Shooting was an issue…with one major exception.

Although Chandler had 29 points, he was only 1-of-6 from the three-point line and 2-of-4 from the free throw line. One more three-pointer and one more free throw, which would be just hitting around his averages, would have put him at 33 points. As a team, Tennessee basketball was 6-of-24, or 25 percent, from three, and they went 5-of-9 from the free throw line.

It actually could have been worse on all fronts, but Santiago Vescovi saved that from happening. Vescovi was 5-of-5 from the field on the day and 3-of-3 from the three-point line en route to 13 points. While Chandler did the scoring under the basket, Vescovi was his safety net from beyond te arc, just like Fulkerson was under the basket.

3. Defense dominated in the paint.

Welcome back Josiah-Jordan James. He has missed the past three games due to injury and came off the bench in this one. While he just scored five points, James did everything else. He had nine rebounds and two steals, but most notably, he had four blocks.

Beyond James’ four blocks, Fulkerson and Olivier Nkamhoua each had two blocks. Tennessee basketball didn’t let Colorado get going in the paint at all, which is why the Buffaloes went 19-of-55 from the field in this game. Chandler was the offense with a bit of help elsewhere, but the defense was just as crucial, and James led the way there.

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