No. 22 Tennessee shuts down No. 3 Kansas, wins Battle 4 Atlantis title

No Josiah-Jordan James? Julian Phillips in foul trouble? More turnovers in one half than Rick Barnes would prefer in two games? None of it mattered. Tennessee took home the Battle 4 Atlantis championship anyway.

Santiago Vescovi scored 20 points and Zakai Zeigler had 14 while No. 22 Tennessee smothered Kansas Friday night, winning 64-50 to take home the Battle 4 Atlantis title inside Imperial Arena on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

The Vols (5-1), winning three games in three days to win their first holiday tournament title since wining the NIT Season Tip-Off in 2010, got 10 points from Tyreke Key and Olivier Nkamhoua had seven points and seven rebounds. Vescovi and Zeigler combined to go 8-for-19 from the 3-point line.

Phillips, who scored 36 points and grabbed 14 rebounds over Tennessee’s first two games in the tournament, finished with four points after picking up two early fouls in the first half. James missed a third straight game with knee soreness.

Tennessee committed 18 turnovers in the first half but had just six after halftime. The Vols scored 18 points off 16 forced turnovers.

Kansas (6-1) got 14 points from Jalen Wilson, who made just 3 of 15 shots, and Joseph Yesufu scored 12. Point guard Dajuan Harris battled foul trouble all night, fouling out with nine minutes left, scoring just two points. Gradey Dick had seven, going 2-for-8 from the field.

The trio of Wilson, Harris and Dick averaged just over 50 points per game for Kansas entering Friday night.

The Jayhawks had the Tennessee lead down to three with 14:28 left, but Phillips scored on a layup and Vescovi hit back-to-back threes to get the lead to nine, matching the biggest of the game, at the 12:24 mark. The sequence got Vescovi to 17 points after his fifth three of the game.

Zeigler got the lead to double-digits with a free throw with 10:47 left, then had a steal and layup. Tennessee’s lead was 12 and Kansas was forced to take a timeout.

The run didn’t stop there. Jonas Aidoo dunked a Jahmai Mashack miss to get the lead to 14 with just under 10 minutes left, making it an 8-0 Tennessee run over 2:57.

The run would eventually reach 11 straight points after a Zeigler three with seven minutes left, building the lead to 18.

Kansas scored the next seven, getting back within 11, but Zeigler answered with another three with 4:42 left.

Vols committed 17 turnovers in first half, led by eight at halftime

Tennessee had 17 turnovers in the first half but managed to go to the break with a 33-25 lead after Olivier Nkamhoua banked in a three with five seconds left on the clock.

Santiago Vescovi went 3-for-4 from the 3-point line after going 0-for-8 from deep in regulation on Thursday against USC. The Vols went 7-for-13 from the arc as a team in the first half against Kansas, leading for 18 minutes, 35 seconds in the first half, by as many as nine.

Jalen Wilson and Gradey Dick combined to going 2-for-12 from the field in the first half for Kansas guard Dajuan Harris played only 12 minutes in the half after picking up three fouls.

Vescovi led the Vols with nine points before halftime, with Nkamhoua scoring seven. Julian Phillips had two points while battling foul trouble, after picking up two

Looking Back: Vols in the Battle 4 Atlantis

Tennessee beat Butler 71-45 on Wednesday in the first round in Atlantis and took down USC in overtime, 73-66, on Thursday, advancing to Friday night’s championship game against Kansas.

Five-star freshman Julian Phillips had 25 points and eight rebounds in the win over USC. He had 11 points and seven rebounds in the win over Butler.

Josiah-Jordan James missed all three games in the Bahamas due to knee soreness. He warmed up for the USC and Kansas games but ultimately was held out. The senior wing had his knee scoped in the spring and had three injections done last month, missing most of the preseason, before returning to play in Tennessee’s first three games of the season.

Up Next: Tennessee vs. McNeese State

Tennessee is back home to host McNeese State on Wednesday in a 7:!5 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network. It’s the start of three straight home games, with Alcorn State (December 4) and Eastern Kentucky (December 7) coming to Knoxville next. 

The Vols go back on the road to face Maryland on December 11 in the Hall of Fame Invitational at Barclays Center in New York City.