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Vols open basketball season with win over Wofford
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- Vols open basketball season with win over Wofford
(USA TODAY NETWORK/Via Reuters Connect)
In its first official action of the 2026-27 campaign, the University of Tennessee men's basketball team dominated second-half action in a 90-59 victory Tuesday night over Wofford.
Sophomore forward DeWayne Brown II led the way for No. 8/9 Tennessee (1-0) at Food City Center with a co-game-high 17 points and game-best 17 rebounds, both of which set career bests in his first collegiate double-double.
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Aided by 3-pointers from sixth-year guard Tyler Lundblade on consecutive possessions, the Volunteers claimed a 12-6 lead on 5-of-7 shooting after just 4:05. However, Wofford (0-1) soon scored six straight points in 30 seconds to level the score at 12 just 1:46 later.
A 3-point play by junior guard Terrence Hill Jr., preceded a 4:02 scoreless drought for Tennessee amidst a 1-of-9 field-goal stretch, after which the Terriers again tallied a half-dozen points in a row to go up, 18-15, with 8:25 on the timer. Another 3-pointer by Lundblade and a 3-point play from Brown put the home team back in front, 21-18, just 70 ticks later.
Tennessee stretched the margin to six, but Wofford countered with an 8-2 surge to level the score at 27 with 2:51 remaining in the session. The home team, buoyed by a 14-7 cushion in bench points and an 11-2 tally in fast-break points, went on to take a 34-31 edge into the locker room.
Senior center Miles Rubin opened the second-half scoring with a dunk, after which Wofford redshirt junior guard Cam Lowe hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two, but the Volunteers then took over. They went on an 18-2 run over 4:24, capped with 10 straight points in just 2:02, to go ahead by 18 points, 54-36, with 14:44 left.
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Tennessee used its third second-half run of at least 8-0 to stretch the margin all the way to two-dozen, 62-38, with 10:50 to go. It held the Terriers without a made field goal for 6:36, forcing 11 consecutive misses.
The Volunteers pushed their advantage to 29, 70-41, with 7:22 on the clock. They took their first 30-point lead with 1:20 to play and went ahead by a game-high 32, 90-58, with 30 seconds left. Wofford scored the last point to make it a 31-point final differential.Brown shot 7-of-11 from the field, also setting a career high in makes, and 3-of-3 from the line. He added three assists and two blocks, both tying for the game lead and for his second-best totals as a Volunteer.
The only other SEC player in the last 15 seasons (2012-27) with at least 17 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in a contest was Auburn's Johni Broome, who did so twice during his SEC Player of the Year campaign in 2024-25.
Hill also had 17 points and three assists to co-lead all competitors alongside Brown, while his two steals also matched the game high. He went 6-of-7 inside the arc and 5-of-5 at the stripe in his formal Tennessee debut. Lundblade, meanwhile, finished with 12 points on a 4-of-9 clip from beyond the arc, while sophomore guard Troy Henderson scored a career-best 10 points.
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Lowe posted 14 points to top the Terriers, but Tennessee limited him to a 5-of-13 ledger from the field. Junior guard Chris Arias and freshman forward Cutter Sisk both had 10 points for the visitors, while redshirt junior center Evan Ramsey chipped in eight points alongside a team-high 10 rebounds.
Tennessee shot 52.3 percent (34-of-65) from the floor in the victory, including a splendid 61.1 percent (22-of-36) in the second half. It also notched an impressive 93.8 percent (15-of-16) figure at the free-throw line.
At the other end, the victors held Wofford to a 30.6 percent (19-of-62) mark from the floor, including a 22.2 percent (6-of-27) ledger beyond the arc. Tennessee also finished with a 52-24 margin in paint points, a 41-24 tally in bench points and a 27-6 count in fast-break points.The Volunteers retake the Food City Center court Monday at 7 p.m. when they take on Radford, live on SEC Network+.
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