No. 22 Tennessee beats No. 3 Kansas 64-50 for Atlantis title
22 Tennessee locked down on third-ranked Kansas to beat the reigning national champions 64-50 in Friday night's championship game at the Battle 4 Atlantis. And for the third time in as many days, Tennessee won despite not having leading scorer Josiah-Jordan James due to knee soreness. This win led to a title and Vescovi being picked as the tournament's most valuable player. He followed with another big one from the right wing with 4:42 left after Kansas had closed within 11. But things were somehow easier on Friday, with Tennessee playing in front the entire way en route to its first title in three tries at the Atlantis resort.
wftv.comNo. 5 Villanova routs No. 17 Tennessee 71-53 in Tip-Off
Santiago Vescovi scored 23 points for Tennessee (2-1), which had opened the season with lopsided wins over Tennessee-Martin and East Tennessee. Villanova scored the game’s first nine points, holding Tennessee without a basket for over six minutes. A dunk from Samuels, who had 11 rebounds, on a lob pass from Justin Moore capped a 14-0 first-half run that pushed the Villanova lead to 33-11. But he picked up his fourth foul a few seconds later and the Wildcats' lead was never challenged. “We learned it from those guys and now we’re in that position.”UP NEXT:Villanova plays the winner of the second game Saturday between No.
wftv.comDown 15, No. 6 Alabama rallies past Tennessee in SEC semis
6 Alabama rallied from a big deficit in the final 17 minutes to beat Tennessee 73-68 Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals. The Volunteers trailed 69-68 when Davonte Gaines missed two foul shots with 25 seconds left. Yves Pons’ 3-pointer got Tennessee within 69-68 with 41.4 seconds left, but Quinerly added two free throws and Ellis two more with 3.7 seconds left to seal a tense game. Alabama: The Crimson Tide have thrived from long distance all season and weren’t about to change, even without Primo. It didn’t start well but ended better as Ellis hit a big 3 to help the Tide finish 7 of 28.
Pons scores 17 as No. 18 Tennessee beats No. 15 Kansas 80-61
18 Tennessee never trailed Saturday in beating 15th-ranked Kansas 80-61 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. This was just Tennessee's second win all-time against Kansas in six games. David McCormack led the Jayhawks with 17 points, Marcus Garrett added 15 and Jalen Wilson had 10. Kansas shot only 7 of 26 through the first 20 minutes and kept from being blown out by hitting 11 of 12 at the free throw line. Tennessee: The Vols have proven they can play stingy defense, and they dominated on the boards 38-23, scoring 14 second-chance points.
Alabama stuns No. 7 Tennessee 71-63 in physical battle
The Crimson Tide (7-3, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) turned a one-point halftime lead into a double-digit advantage midway through the second behind Petty’s trio of 3s and two more long-range makes by Joshua Primo. Primo and Herbert Jones finished with 11 points, and Jahvon Quinerly scored 10. Tennessee (7-1, 1-1) struggled from the field the entire game, hitting 21 of 66 shots (32%). Alabama's 31-29 lead at the break happened with the Crimson Tide shooting 39% (12 of 31), while Tennessee struggled shooting 33% (11 of 33). UP NEXTAlabama: The Crimson Tide will be home Tuesday to face Florida, which beat LSU on Saturday.