No. 7 Tennessee handles Wofford after slow start, 82-61
No. 7 Tennessee handled its business against Wofford Tuesday night, winning 82-61 after a slow start at Thompson-Boling Arena. And it was the usual suspects that picked up the pace in the second half.
Dalton Knecht scored 14 of his 18 after halftime to lead the Vols (3-0), Jordan Gainey played his role as sixth man with 16 points off the bench and Tobe Awaka had nine points and four boards in the second half.
Santiago Vescovi scored a season-high 11, Josiah-Jordan James had eight and Zakai Zeigler scored three in a season-high 19 minutes.
Wofford (2-1) got 19 points from Corey Tripp, Chase Cormier scored 15 and Jackson Sivillis added 10.
The Terriers had it down to a one-possession game after Tripp hit a three 15 seconds in the second half, but the Vols answered with a 10-0 run to get the lead to 12, the biggest of the game.
Tennessee clung to a 36-31 lead at halftime after Wofford spent the first half bombing away from the 3-point line and chasing down its misses.
The Terriers went 5-for-21 from the 3-point line but grabbed nine offensive rebounds and scored nine second-chance points. The Vols led by as many as nine in the first half, but rarely was the lead that large early on.
Gainey scored 11 points off the bench to lead the Vols in the first half and Vescovi scored eight. Knecht scored four points and played just 10 minutes after picking up two early fouls.
Tripp led Wofford with eight points in the first half and Sivillis had seven as the two combined to go 7-for-13 from the floor.
Freshman guard Freddie Dilione V injured in first half
Tennessee freshman guard Freddie Dilione V played two minutes in the first half before leaving the game with a slight limp. He took his left shoe off after getting to the bench and later went to the tunnel with team trainers.
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Dilione wore a boot on his left foot in the second half while sitting at the end of the bench next to team trainer Chad Newman.
Dilione was scoreless in three minutes in the 80-70 win at Wisconsin on Friday. He didn’t play in the game in the second half.
He had seven points in 16 minutes against Tennessee Tech last week in the season-opening win over Tennessee Tech, going 3-for-5 from the field with three rebounds and three assists.
Up Next: Tennessee heads to Maui Invitational
Tuesday’s game was the final tuneup before the Vols go to Honolulu for next week’s Maui Invitational, where they’ll start play in the first round against Syracuse on Monday. The game will start at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time and will be televised by ESPN2.
Either No. 3 Purdue or No. 11 Gonzaga will be the opponent the following day. The other half of the eight-team bracket includes No. 1 Kansas playing Chaminade and No. 5 Marquette facing UCLA.
Another road test awaits Tennessee after the Hawaii trip, with a game at North Carolina on November 29 in the first edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge. It’s a 7:15 p.m. ET start on ESPN at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
