Tennessee continued their on-ramp into the 2025-26 season with an easy 95-56 win over Northern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon at the Food City Center at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Nate Ament led Tennessee with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 20 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal.
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The first half was an offensive explosion for Tennessee, as they broke half a hundred on the scoreboard and took a 52-31 lead into the locker room. It took a few minutes, like earlier this week, for the offense to shake itself awake and get to work, as Northern Kentucky jumped out to a 10-5 lead a few minutes in. But the Vols woke up and went on a 13-0 run to go up by three possessions around 10 minutes in.
Gillespie helped bury the Norse later in the half, as he found Ethan Burg for a three before hitting two himself in the following minutes to push the lead up to 34-21. Then, he pulled off a steal and had a nifty running slam over a Norse defender for a highlight-reel moment.
Tennessee cleaned up in the first half something they struggled with greatly in the season opener against Mercer. They turned the ball over just four times in the first half compared to five steals and 17 assists, so the efficiency was night and day different on Saturday afternoon. The Vols shot 52.6% from the field and 10-19 from three in the half.
The second half was a bit sloppier for Tennessee on the offensive end – a bit, I said – as the Vols had a few more turnovers. However, a lack of focus isn’t going to be knocked when Tennessee is up by 25-30ish point range for much of the half before they really poured it on late.
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Tennessee had one slow stretch where they let a 73-43 lead get to 73-50, and Rick Barnes called timeout and gave his team some grief after a J.P. Estrella turnover. They responded strongly, as they finished out the game with a 22-7 run to reach the final margin.
Up next for Tennessee is a clash with North Florida on Wednesday in Knoxville.
