No. 13 Tennessee takes care of Alcorn State without Santiago Vescovi
No. 13 Tennessee was without senior shooting guard Santiago Vescovi on Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena, but the Vols didn’t miss a beat in a 94-40 win over visiting Alcorn State.
Five-star freshman wing Julian Phillips scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half and Olivier Nkamhoua scored a career-high 20 points to lead Tennessee (7-1), adding four rebounds and six assists to help make up for the absence of Vescovi, who suffered a sprain to his left, shooting shoulder late in the 76-40 win over McNeese State on Wednesday.
Josiah-Jordan James returned from the knee soreness that caused him to miss the last four games. The senior wing had four points, three assists and two rebounds in 14 minutes. Sophomore wing Jahmai Mashack made his first career start and finished with a career-high 13 points.
Tyreke Key scored 11, Zakai Zeigler had 10 off the bench and Uros Plavsic scored 12.
Alcorn State (3-6) got 10 points Dominic Brewton.
Tennessee started the second half on a 14-2 run, extending what was already a 27-point halftime lead to 39, at 63-24, with 14:32 left in the second half.
The 14 Phillips scored in the first half led all scorers, powering Tennessee to a 49-22 lead at the break. He went 5-for-7 from the field, 1-for-3 from the 3-point line and 3-for-3 at the foul line to get to 14.
Key scored nine points while Nkamhoua and Plavsic scored six each in the first half. The Vols shot 54.8 percent from the field and went 5-for-13 at the free-throw line while putting the game away early.
Tennessee scored 17 points off 11 Alcorn turnovers and won the rebounding battle 18-12 in the first half.
Injury Notes: Santiago Vescovi out with shoulder sprain, Josiah-Jordan James returns
Vescovi did not dress for the game after missing practice on Friday due to a shoulder sprain in his left, shooting shoulder.
Vescovi had 16 points in 33 minutes against McNeese State Wednesday in Tennessee’s 76-40 win at Thompson-Boling Arena. He left late in the game holding his shoulder.
James, who had missed the last four games due to knee soreness, leads the Vols in scoring at 13.7 points per game and in rebounding, at 6.0.
Vescovi is second in scoring at 12.0 points per game. Vescovi leads Tennessee in assists (3.4), steals (2.5) and minutes (32.3) through seven games and is third in rebounding (5.0).
Up Next: Tennessee vs. Eastern Kentucky, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network
The Vols end their run of three straight home games against Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday at Thompson-Boling Arena. From there, Tennessee goes to Brooklyn to face No. 22 Maryland on Sunday at Barclays Center in the Hall of Fame Invitational.
The first true road game of the season follows at No. 4 Arizona on December 17 and Tennessee returns home to host Austin Peay on December 21 in the final game before Christmas.
