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Tennessee Basketball: No. 8 Vols cruise past Austin Peay, 86-44

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•12/21/22•

GrantRamey

Tennessee senior shooting guard Santiago Vescovi takes a shot against Austin Peay (Tennessee Athletics)
Tennessee senior shooting guard Santiago Vescovi takes a shot against Austin Peay (Tennessee Athletics)

There was no hesitation from No. 8 Tennessee Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling. Visiting Austin Peay was out of the game as soon as it tipped off, with the Vols storming out to a 35-point lead in the first half and rolling to an 86-44 win.

Tennessee (10-2) got 20 points, four assists and four rebounds from Olivier Nkamhoua, who went 9-for-11 from the field, 18 more points from Santiago Vescovi, who was 5-for-5 at the 3-point line, and a career-high 10 points from sophomore center Jonas Aidoo, who added nine rebounds.

Freshman power forward Tobe Awaka had six points and 11 rebounds and Julian Phillips scored all nine of his points in the second half. Tyreke Key had eight points, five assists and three rebounds in 19 minutes.

Austin Peay (6-7) got 11 points from both Elijah Hutchins-Everett and Sean Durugordon.

Tennessee jumped out to a 20-2 lead before Austin Peay could make its first shot from the field at the 11:02 mark. The lead was as much as 35, at 52-17 with 1:17 left in the first half, as the dominance continued.

Nkamhoua and Vescovi scored 12 each in the first half to pace Tennessee. Nkamhoua started 3-for-4 from the field with six points in the first four minutes of the game, adding four assists and three rebounds in the opening half. Vescovi was a perfect 4-for-4 from the 3-point line in the first half, after going 2-for-16 from the arc over the previous two games.

Aidoo scored eight points in the first half, going 4-for-5 from the field, while grabbing six rebounds. Awaka and Jahmai Mashack combined for eight points and nine rebounds off the bench before halftime.

Phillips played just five minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls in less than two minutes to start the game. He was the only Tennessee player that didn’t score before halftime.

The lead was 40 after back-to-back dunks from Aidoo and Nkamhoua, putting Tennessee up 72-32 with 11:59 left in the second half. It was 45 after the Vols scored five straight over the next three minutes, 35 seconds, as Rick Barnes started to empty his bench.

Up Next: No. 8 Tennessee at Ole Miss, Wednesday, 5 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Tennessee will break for Christmas following the Austin Peay game, will return to Knoxville on Christmas Day and then open SEC play at Ole Miss on Wednesday, December 28. It’s a 5 p.m. ET start at The Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford.

The Vols will host Mississippi State on January 3 in the SEC home opener at Thompson-Boling Arena. 

The January SEC schedule for Tennessee also includes home games against Vanderbilt (January 10), Kentucky (January 14) and Georgia (January 25). The Vols play at South Carolina (January 7), at Mississippi State (January 17) at LSU (January 21).

Texas, the final non-conference game on schedule, will be played January 28 at Thompson-Boling Arena in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

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