Tennessee’s 72-43 win against the 0-7 Florida A&M Rattlers was the last chance for the Vols to build quality depth for a while.
The Vols have a ten-day break before hosting Memphis in Thompson-Boling Arena on December 14th. The game is a hard sell out.
After Tennessee (7-1) hosts the Tigers (7-1) and the formerly beloved Penny Hardaway, it plays at Cincinnati before hosting Jacksonville State and Wisconsin. Cincy is also tough and Wisconsin is always good. Then comes SEC play.
The Vols will be heavily favored against Jax State, but the remaining games on the Vols schedule figure to be competitive contests. After the Vols kick off SEC play against LSU on January 4th, the only interruption in the SEC schedule is a game at Kansas.
While Tennessee was sloppy early, committing five fouls in the game’s first three minutes, it settled down and held the Rattlers scoreless for several minutes in the middle of the half.
It didn’t take long to tell that Yves Pons was going to have his way with the Rattlers.
Pons finished the first half with 12 points and six rebounds while drawing four fouls. He led the Vols in minutes played in the first half with 17:38 played, while Lamonte Turner played just under 17 minutes. Turner also turned in 10 points and five assists.
Josiah Jordan James, the five star recruit who has gotten off to a slow start offensively, has rebounded well in his first year on Rocky Top. He grabbed his first defensive board a minute and ten seconds in and just a few seconds later leaped over a Rattler defender to grab an offensive board before finding John Fulkerson in the lane. Fulkerson’s bucket made the score to 4-3 and Tennessee would never trail again.
Unfortunately, James would pick up his second foul less than two minutes later.
The positive that James’ foul trouble provided came in the opportunity for UT to build its depth. Olivier Nkamhoua, Davante Gaines, Jaylen Johnson and Drew Pember all got at least seven minutes of burn in the first half.
James would take over the team coming out of the locker room. He ran point and facilitated throughout the final half and finished the game with ten points and four rebounds in just under 27 minutes of play.
Six other Vols played over 20 minutes in the contest and two others played more than ten.
Fulkerson led the Vols with 15 points and Pons finished with 14. Nkamhoua grabbed 13 boards and scored 11 while Davonte Gaines added four boards and seven points.
Tennessee will need to lean on its bench as the schedule thickens, but it will also need more from its starters. Jordan Bowden shot 1-7 from the field and finished with just three points. Lamonte Turner didn’t score in the second half, but part of the totals from both he and Bowden can be attributed to less time on the court with the game well in hand. Still, Tennessee must get better if it hopes to run the gauntlet that is the resurgent SEC, which has put a team in the Final Four two of the last three years.
