No. 8 Tennessee basketball opened the season at home against the Wofford Terriers . Head coach Rick Barnes officially entered his 12th season at the helm here in Knoxville. After an iffy first half, the Vols went on to a strong finish to take a 90-59 win.
Dai Dai Ames recorded the first points of the season on a layup, just seven seconds into the game. Tyler Lundblade drained the Vols' first 3-pointer of the season with 16:20 to go in the first half to put Tennessee up 9-4, and then popped another shortly after as the Vols went to the first timeout up 12-6.
Wofford kept up with the Vols throughout the first half. Tennessee got beat on the boards early on by the Terriers, committed some ill-advised fouls, and turned the ball over. One foul ended in a four-point play when Luke Flynn was fouled by Terrence Hill Jr.
The Vols' offense also was not in sync and went on a cold stretch for 4:02. What was just as bad was that they were one-and-done possessions, with second-chance opportunities minimized. They also committed turnovers that turned into Wofford points. Lundblade finally ended the scoring drought with his third 3-pointer of the half to tie the game at 18 with 8:12 to go. Then they picked up an and-one opportunity from DeWayne Brown II to take the lead with under eight timeout.
Wofford continued to test Tennessee's defense. The Vols left the perimeter open multiple times, which gave Chris Arias and Cam Lowe good looks. The Terriers missed their share of shots, or it could have been more noticeable than it was.
Hill took the ball inside more to find good looks later on in the half, which also gave him chances at the free-throw line. He scored eight points in a three and a half minute span. Tennessee needed offense, and it mostly came from Hill and Lundblade's threes, with a scattering of others. That, along with everything else, took them to the half with a 34-31 lead. Wofford held a 21-19 advantage on the boards and scored nine points off seven Tennessee turnovers.
Tennessee came out after halftime and moved the ball much better. Miles Rubin stepped up and got to the rim for two dunks, with a Lundblade 3-pointer in between, in the opening minutes. The Vols showed a sense of urgency and opened up a 12-point lead before the under-16 timeout. Juke Harris , who only took two shots in the first half, hit a 3-pointer in that stretch. He went on to finish the night with seven points.
The Vols kept their foot on the gas and looked like a completely different team than what was seen in the first 20 minutes. Rubin continued to make his presence felt on both ends, and Hill guarded the ball well on the perimeter. That landed him a steal and score on a fast break to put the Vols up by 18 with 14:44 to go. Tennessee was collective on the boards after halftime and played better ball all around.
Braedan Lue provided solid minutes on the defensive end and on the boards. Whatever the case was in the first half was gone, and it was a good team effort. Twelve Tennessee players scored in the second half. Troy Henderson came along and scored seven of his 10 points in the half. Brown really went to work in a major way to finish the night with a strong double-double. He put up 17 points, 12 of those in the second half, with 17 rebounds.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/tennessee as No. 8 Tennessee men's basketball defeats Wofford to open the season .
