Tennessee Basketball: No. 11 Vols go cold in loss to Colorado

NASHVILLE — Colorado went to Grambling State Friday night, a little less than 48 hours before facing No. 11 Tennessee, and got stunned. After entering as a 16-point favorite, the Buffaloes trailed by as many as 17 and never led in the loss.

At Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Sunday, it was Colorado delivering the stunner against Tennessee.

The Vols made just 16 of their 61 shots from the field, shooting 25.4 percent, and went 10-for-37 from the 3-point line while Colorado ran away in the second half for a 78-66 win.

Tennessee (1-1) got 15 points from Josiah-Jordan James and Tyreke Key scored 15, despite going 2-for-9 from the field. Zakai Zeigler had 12 points on 4-for-12 shooting.

Santiago Vescovi finished with just nine points, scoring four on his first possession before shooting 2-for-13. Julian Phillips was 1 of 6, scoring just five points after picking up two fouls early in the game. Olivier Nkamhoua went 1-for-7 from the floor, scoring four points while grabbing nine rebounds.

Colorado (2-1) shot 43.5 percent from the field in the second half, outscoring Tennessee by 14 in the process. The Buffs were led by 23 points from KJ Simpson and 14 more from Tristen De Silva.

Tennessee goes cold in loss to Colorado in Nashville

It was Tennessee’s worst shooting performance since the Vols shot 25.0 percent (15-60) in the 51-47 loss to Memphis at Thompson-Boling Arena in December 2019.

Colorado had more turnovers (19) than Tennessee (15) and the Vols went 24-for-30 at the foul line, while Colorado shot 16-for-21 at the line. The Buffaloes won the rebounding battle, 47-38, and scored 34 points in the paint to Tennessee’s 10.

Colorado took the lead on a Jalen Gabbidon 3-pointer at the 18:12 mark of the second half and the Vols couldn’t match from there.

The Buffs had built their lead to seven with 7:20 left, outscoring Tennessee 25-16 over the first 13 minutes of the half.

It was an 11-point Colorado lead after a Julian Hammond III layup, then 14 on a De Silva three with 5:01 left. Meanwhile, Tennessee was shooting just 23.1 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from the 3-point line, making just 1 of 11 shots from the 3-point line.

James hit a three with 3:43 left, but it only cut the deficit to 11 while making Tennessee 2-for-14 from the 3-point line in the second half.

Tennessee started the game by making four of its first eight shots from the floor. From there, over the final 13:21 of the first half, the Vols shot an ice-cold 2-for-18. The last one, a high-arching 3-point shot from Zeigler, went in to build the Tennessee lead to five, but ever so briefly. Colorado hit a three on the other end, with two seconds on the clock, to cut the deficit to 34-32 at halftime.

Key had 12 points in the first half but went just 1-for-5 from the floor. He made 9 of 11 free throws. James scored nine points in his first four minutes, but was shut out for the rest of the first half. He was the only Tennessee player to hit multiple shots from the floor in the first half, though, going 3-for-6.

Santiago Vescovi started the game by making a deep 3-point shot from the top of the key, falling down after getting fouled, and made the free throw for the four-point play. He finished the 1-for-7 from the field and 1-for-6 from the 3-point line in the first half.

Julian Phillips played just three minutes in the first half, sitting the rest of the way after picking up two early fouls. Sophomore center Jonas Aidoo picked up two fouls of his own and Uros Plavsic left the game with what appeared to be an injury to his right leg, forcing freshman power forward Tobe Awaka into the rotation in the first half.

Olivier Nkamhoua had five rebounds in the first half, but went 0-for-4 from the floor. Zeigler was 1-for-3.

Vols host Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday

Tennessee forced 11 turnovers in the first half but committed nine of their own. The Vols went 17-for-21 at the free-throw line, building the lead to as much as eight while leading for over 16 minutes in the opening half. 

The Vols are back home Wednesday, hosting Florida Gulf Coast at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start and is available as an online live-stream on SEC Network+.