No. 12 Tennessee hangs on against North Carolina State in San Antonio, 79-70

Tennessee basketball’s trip to San Antonio was nearly one to forget. The 12th-ranked Vols gave up an 11-point lead with 12 minutes left against North Carolina State Saturday night at the Frost Bank Center, but recovered to beat the Wolfpack 79-70.

Josiah-Jordan James scored a team-high and career-high 23 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 6:12 left, to lead Tennessee (8-3). Zakai Zeigler added 18 points and seven assists and Jahmai Mashack scored 11, with five rebounds and four assists. 

Santiago Vescovi scored all of his nine points in the second half while Dalton Knecht finished with just two points on 1-for-7 shooting. Jonas Aidoo had four points after scoring a career-high 29 on Tuesday against Georgia Southern.

Zeigler sealed it with a three with 2:04 left, putting Tennessee up seven. The shot came off of a James offensive rebound, which followed a Mashack steal on the defensive end. James hit his fifth three of the night with 1:41 left to get the lead to eight.

NC State (7-3), which didn’t make a shot from the floor in four of the final five minutes, got 16 points from DJ Horne, 15 from DJ Burns, the former Tennessee forward, and 11 from Jayden Taylor.

Tennessee ripped off a 9-0 run over a span of 2:14 to take a 55-44 lead, the biggest of the night to that point, after Zeigler hit a step-back jumper with 12:13 left.

The 11-point lead was down to four after a Horne three with 9:26 to go, giving him 16 points on four threes. It was down to one after a three-point play on the following possession, with Knecht committing the foul, helping the Wolfpack complete and 11-1 run. 

The lead was gone completely after a Taylor 3-pointer with 7:17 left tied the game at 60. James restored it 65 seconds later with a three of his own.

Vescovi scored seven points in the first 2:03 of the second half, after going scoreless in the first half, to get the lead to eight. It was nine after a James three, but NC State answered with seven straight points to get it back to a one-possession game with 15:33 left.

Zeigler, James combined for 21 of Tennessee’s 34 points in the first half

Tennessee led 34-31 at halftime after getting 21 points from Zeigler and James. Zeigler had 11, including eight of the first 16 for his team, and James had 10.

Zeigler and James combined combined to go 7-for-13 from the field in the first half, while the rest of the Vols shot 6-for-20. Zeigler and James went 5-for-9 from the 3-point line while the rest of the team went 1-for-8.

Zeigler and James finished 9-for-16 from the 3-point line while making 13 of Tennessee’s 27 shots from the floor.

Tennessee’s biggest lead in the first half was nine, at 29-22 with 4:39 left before the break, after three straight 3-pointers from Mashack, James and Zeigler. NC State answered with a 6-0 run to get the deficit back to one.

Up Next: Tennessee vs. Tarleton State, Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+

Saturday night’s North Carolina State game in San Antonio was the last non-conference game against a power-conference team, with the Vols set to host Tarleton State and Norfolk State before starting SEC play against Ole Miss.

Tarleton State comes to Knoxville on Thursday, the final game before the Christmas break, and Tennessee hosts Norfolk State on January 2 in the final non-conference game on the regular-season schedule.

The Tarleton State game is a 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network+ and the Norfolk State game is a 7 p.m. ET start on SEC Network.

Tennessee hosts Ole Miss at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 6 in a 6 p.m. ET start on SEC Network. The Rebels improved to 10-0 with an 88-78 win over Cal in the early game in San Antonio on Saturday.

The Vols go on the road in conference play for the first time on January 10 at Mississippi State, a 7 p.m. ET SEC Network game at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville.