The Volunteers used a 12-3 surge in 3:38 to take a 21-10 lead at the 10:27 mark of the first half, at which point Gillespie already had 14 points. Soon after, new players moved in Nate Ament Individual went on a 9-2 run in just 55 seconds, giving him 14 points and putting the team lead by 19, 41-22, with 5:19 on the timer.
Tennessee continued its offensive attack, connecting on eight of its last nine field-goal attempts – it made seven in a row – leading to a season-best 26-point advantage at the break. The lone miss was reported by a redshirt sophomore JP Estrella Moments before the buzzer.
The Volunteers, who finished the half with a 7-0 run over the final 63 seconds, got 23 points in the first half from Gillespie on 8-of-12 shooting, 17 points on a 6-of-9 clip from Ament and eight points each from Estrella and senior forward John F. Kennedy. felix okparaThe team shot 59,4 percent (19 of 32) in the first period, including 61,5 percent (8 of 13) from beyond the arc, as well as 90,9 percent (10 of 11) at the line, Meanwhile, Rutgers (4-2) scored a third of its first-half points at the free-throw line, where it went 10-of-15,
Tennessee increased its lead to 29, 67–38, on Gillespie’s 3-pointer with 13:34 remaining. That gave the Greenville, Tennessee, native 28 points, which was already a new career best. Another 3-pointer by Gillespie with only 88 ticks left extended his points tally to 31, giving him six attempts – in only eight attempts – from long range for the first time as a collegian and putting the Volunteers ahead by 30 points, 70–40.
That was followed by six more Tennessee points, increasing the lead to 9–0 with 3:02 remaining and the lead to 36 with 9:05 remaining. The Scarlet Knights never got closer than 25 the rest of the way.
Gillespie’s 32-point performance came on 11-of-20 shooting, as he tied his career high in field goals made. He went 6 of 10 from beyond the arc to set a new career best in long-range production, while also tallying four assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block.
Ament finished with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. He went 7-14 from the floor and set a new career best in 3-point makes with a 4-of-6 laser.
Estrella had 10 points, shooting 3-of-4 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line. Okpara matched him in the scoring column, making 4 of 6 field goals and tied the game with seven rebounds. He added a game-best three blocks to eclipse 200 as a collegian. second year guard Bishop Boswell Led all players with a career-best five assists and a career-best three steals.
Freshman guard Aaron Zernow led Rutgers with 14 points, going 3 of 5 from deep and 5 of 7 at the line. Redshirt junior guard Darren Buchanan Jr. had 13 points, while second-year forward Dylan Grant added 10 points.
Despite missing its last four field-goal attempts, Tennessee shot 50.8 percent (31 of 61) in the win. It also posted a season-best 50.0 percent (11 of 22) shooting from beyond the arc.
On the other end, Tennessee held Rutgers to a 36.5 percent (19 of 52) clip from the field and 31.6 percent (6 of 19) from 3-point range, along with zero fast-break points.
The Volunteers continue Players Era Men’s Championship action Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET when they face No. 3/2 Houston at MGM Grand Garden Arena, live on TNT and HBO Max.
To stay connected with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/TwitterAlso on Facebook at /tennesseebasketball.
Tennessee Volunteers postgame notes
• Tennessee head coach rick barnes He now has 842 wins in his career, ranking first among all active Division I head coaches and ninth all-time (minimum of 10 years remaining in Division I).
• The Volunteers improved to 3-0 all-time against Rutgers, with each of the three matchups being at least 22 years apart and all at different locations.
• Tennessee is now 3-0 against Big Ten schools over the last two seasons, with all three wins coming away from home.
• Rutgers is the 211th different program that Barnes has defeated in his head coaching career, including the 207th at the Division I level at the time of the game and the 205th current Division I institution.
• Tennessee improved its mark to 13-10 in its 10 multi-team events in the Barnes era, including 6-9 in the Americas and 4-5 in the continental US.
• The Volunteers now number 16-13 in the Pacific Time Zone—not including Alaska or Hawaii—with Monday’s competition being their first in that region since Dec. 19, 2015.
• Tennessee improves to 2-3 all-time at Nevada State, with previous games in December 1977 (0-2) and December 1982 (1-1) – all five games in Las Vegas.
• Tennessee has dished out more than 18 assists in all five games this season, making Monday the first time it hasn’t reached 19 and the second time it hasn’t logged at least 20.
• The Volunteers had more than 43 rebounds and more than 15 offensive rebounds for the fifth time in six contests to start the year.
• Tennessee has won five consecutive games by at least 25 points, while all six of its wins this year have been by more than 19 points.
• Before blowing a 26-point lead in 20 minutes against Rutgers, the Volunteers’ largest halftime lead of the year was 22 in their last game, Nov. 20 vs. Tennessee State, when they led 43-21.
• Tennessee allowed only nine rebounds in the first half of action while grabbing 21 of its own.
• The 56 points in the first half for Tennessee are the most in a frame this season, surpassing the previous best of 52 recorded on three separate occasions.
• The last time the Volunteers had at least 56 points in a half was Feb. 5, 2025, when it scored 57 points after halftime against Missouri, while it last did so before the break on Dec. 21, 2020, against Saint Joseph’s.
• Monday marked the sixth time in Barnes’ tenure at Rocky Top that his team scored more than 56 points in a half, including the second before the break.
• Tennessee has now scored more than 50 points in a half 19 times over the past three seasons (2023-26) after doing so a total of 11 times over the past four years (2019-23).
• The last time Tennessee made half of its 3-point attempts was March 22, 2025, against UCLA in the NCAA Tournament in Lexington, Ky., when it made 11 of 22.
• Tennessee now has two players score more than 20 points three times this season, all within the last five games and all three pairs including Gillespie.
• Gillespie’s 23 first-half points are the most in a frame by a Volunteer this season, surpassing 15 by Estrella before intermission on Nov. 12 against Northern Florida and 15 by Ament after intermission on Nov. 8 against Northern Kentucky.
• The last volunteer with 20 points in the half was Chaz Lanier On March 8, when he scored 20 after halftime against South Carolina, the last player to do so in the first round was Lanier, who accomplished the feat by scoring 22 before halftime on February 22 at Texas A&M.
• Before Gillespie, the last time a Tennessee player had more than 23 points in a half was Nov. 22, 2024, in Nassau, Bahamas, when Chaz Lanier Scored 25 runs in the first 20 minutes against Baylor.
• Gillespie’s 32 points were the most by a Volunteer in a complete game since March 31, 2024, when Dalton Knecht scored 37 against Purdue in an NCAA Tournament matchup in Detroit.
• Seven different Volunteers – 20 times – have scored more than 30 points in a game under Barnes, including Gillespie. Chaz Lanier (one), Dalton Knecht (eight), Jaden Springer (one), Grant Williams (five), Admiral Scofield (one) and Kevin Punter Jr. (three).
• Before Gillespie, was the last Volunteer to make six 3-pointers in a game Chaz LanierWho did so on March 20, 2025 against Wofford in an NCAA Tournament match in Lexington, Ky.
• Gillespie’s previous career-best point total was 27 points, which he recorded on January 10, 2025, against UCLA while he was with Maryland.
• The previous career highs for Gillespie were five, recorded on Jan. 19, 2025, against Nebraska and Feb. 20, 2025, against Southern Cal, both with Maryland.
• Gillespie’s 11 field goals match career highs he recorded twice previously, both on Feb. 16, 2025, against Iowa, while with Maryland, and one on Feb. 14, 2024, against Southern Illinois, while with Belmont.
• The last player to score more than 30 points against Rutgers was Monmouth’s Abdi Bashir Jr., who had 38 points on Nov. 15, 2024.
• Gillespie is the second SEC player to post 32 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and one block in a game in the last six seasons (2020-26), joining Kentucky’s Reed Shepard, who did so on Feb. 27, 2024, at Mississippi State.
• Ament added four 3-pointers in a game for the first time in his young career, doubling his previous top total.
• Okpara’s streak of 22 consecutive jump-ball wins — including the final 17 games of the 2024-25 campaign — ended Monday.
• With his second block of the day, at the 16:57 mark of the second half, Okpara reached 200 for his career, becoming the second active player to reach that mark in Division I competition – the other being Georgia’s Justin Ebson.
• Boswell, returning from injury after missing the last three games, dished out a career-best five assists, surpassing the best of three assists recorded twice previously.
• Boswell had a career-high three steals, marking the first time he had more than two steals in a contest as a collegian.
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