No. 9 Tennessee wraps up preseason schedule with 90-48 exhibition win over Lenoir-Rhyne
Tennessee basketball wrapped up its preseason exhibition schedule with a 90-48 win over Lenoir-Rhyne Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena, as the Vols now turn their attention to Monday’s regular-season opener against Tennessee Tech.
No. 9 Tennessee, which on 89-88 at No. 4 Michigan State in a charity exhibition game on Sunday, got 14 points from Jonas Aidoo against Lenoir-Rhyne. Dalton Knecht scored 11 of his 13 in the first half and Jordan Gainey had 13 of his own. Tobe Awaka had 11 and Josiah-Jordan James added nine points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Nas Tyson led Lenoir-Rhyne with 15.
Tennessee led 49-20 at halftime after shooting 19-for-29 from the field and going 6-for-10 from the 3-point line. Knecht led all scorers with 11 points before halftime while James and Aidoo had nine each and Gainey scored eight.
Zeigler, Vescovi miss second straight exhibition game
Junior point guard Zakai Zeigler (knee) and fifth-year senior Santiago Vescovi (personal) missed Tuesday’s exhibition game. Zeigler is continuing his comeback from the torn ACL suffered in February and Vescovi last week returned home to be with his family and ailing grandmother in Uruguay.
Zeigler wore Vescovi’s No. 25 jersey on the Tennessee bench during Tuesday’s game.
Vescovi is schedule to arrive back in Knoxville this week and will be available for Monday’s season-opener against Tennessee Tech. Zeigler’s status for next week has yet to be announced.
Zeigler suffered the torn ACL that ended his sophomore season in the home win over Arkansas on February 28 last season and had surgery in March after the swelling in the knee subsided. He returned to practice with the Vols this fall, ramping up the amount of work he was doing during preseason practices this month.
Vescovi last week was voted First Team All-SEC in the preseason media poll and Zeigler was voted Second Team All-SEC. Tennessee was picked to win the league, coming in ahead of No. 2 Texas A&M.
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Tennessee 89, Michigan State 88
Jordan Gainey made the second of two free-throw attempts with 1.9 seconds left to help No. 9 Tennessee start its season with an exhibition win over No. 4 Michigan State Sunday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Gainey, the USC Upstate transfer guard and son of Tennessee associate head coach JustinGainey, scored 20 points in his debut with the Vols, starting the game a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from the 3-point line. Dalton Knecht, the fifth-year senior wing and Northern Colorado transfer, scored a game-high 28 points, going 8-for-16 from the field and 3-for-9 from the 3-point line, while adding seven rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes.
Jahmai Mashcak had 11 points and five rebounds, Jonas Aidoo scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds and Josiah-Jordan James and Tobe Awaka scored eight points each while combining for seven more boards.
Tennessee shot 51.0% from the field (26-51), 52.4% from the 3-point line (11-21), scored 22 points in transition and scored 17 points off 17 Michigan State turnovers.
