Tennessee started fast on Sunday night at Food City Center, but couldn’t hold off a very talented Duke squad in the second half. The Volunteers held a 43-37 lead at halftime in front of a sold out crowd, but the Blue Devils erupted for 46 second-half points to clinch the win. Tennessee’s shooting went ice cold down the stretch as Duke clamped down on the defensive end.
Nate Ament’s debut
The highest ever prospect to sign with Tennessee got his first taste of college basketball on Sunday, playing 33 minutes and scoring 14 points. Ament was only 5-19 from the floor and 0-5 from three-point range, however. You certainly saw the flashes early on, but it seemed like Ament was pressing a bit late and struggling with a physical Duke team in the paint.
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“We know we need him,” Rick Barnes said of Ament. “We don’t want him to think we’ll lose confidence in him. We’re not. But, the thing he did best, and he could have done probably another seven times, and put fouls on them. I think he could be one of the best in the country at drawing fouls. He needs to get to the free-throw line more than he did. But his first time out. I can assure you, it’s the most physical. The game he’s ever been in his life.”
Ament, along with the rest of the remade roster, struggled to keep Cam Boozer off the boards. The freshman forward had a staggering 23 rebounds on the night to go along with 24 points, which was obviously the difference in the game.
“We’ll learn a lot about this, about ourselves,” Rick Barnes said after the game. “I thought both teams really competed, physical game this time of year. I think they wanted to come and play against a physical team. And I thought they did a great job of being physical. I thought we were not as physical as we were a year ago. We got to get there. We do need to get there. We’re not there yet.”
Tennessee’s rotation
Outside of Barnes having a core three players — Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Nate Ament and Felix Okpara — it didn’t feel like we learned much about the rotation itself. Jaylen Carey got the start at the 4 spot, but only played 11 minutes overall. Bishop Boswell started at the 2, but didn’t score a point in his 24 minutes of play.
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Ethan Burg gave Tennessee a shot in the arm with two three-pointers, but played just 14 minutes. Amaree Abram handled only 13 minutes. The rest of the bigs, as expected, each got around 10-15 minutes in the rotation. DeWayne Brown, as Barnes noted earlier this month, was a big part of the rotation and got 13 minutes.
Barnes is obviously looking for more out of his big men than he got on Sunday.
“I look at it, Felix I thought really worked hard tonight to do it, but we do have to get Cade and certainly JP going,” Barnes said. “And JP has been out a year, all this, and working back into it. Cade has been out of practice. I thought DeWayne Brown was really good. I thought he went in and practiced poised, did a lot of good things. And we need Jaylen (Carey) to really, really give us some more than he did. In fact, in 12 minutes he only had one rebound. And he’s got to do that.”
Barnes also spoke on Amaree Abram, which may explain why he had a lighter night.
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“Mo (Amaree Abram), we need more out of him. He’s got to come in the game with more energy as well, on both ends. I mean, he’s older, been around. We need him to do that. And he will.”
Hello, DeWayne Brown
Rick Barnes was asked who his biggest surprise on the roster was this month and he didn’t hesitate — it was freshman center DeWayne Brown. Barnes promised that he was going to be a big part of the rotation in the post, and he delivered on that promise against Duke.
Brown scored ten points in his 13 minutes, going 5-5 from the field. He also impressed on the boards, grabbing six rebounds on the night. His three offensive rebounds were a big boost for Tennessee early on.
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The pecking order in the post is going to be something to monitor early in the season. Barnes is already on Jaylen Carey about rebounding and JP Estrella appears like he will be eased back in. Cade Phillips might be that first guy off the bench, but it sure feels like Brown has earned some real minutes.
However it shakes out, what a luxury for Tennessee to have. We’ve seen how much depth matters in years past, and five guys that you can trust down low is going to be nice to have.
Up and down debut for Ja’Kobi Gillespie
Tennessee’s new senior point guard certainly wasn’t shy in his first game in the orange and white. Gillespie scored 19 points to lead the Volunteers, but shot just 5-21 from the field. He was just 3-13 from long range. Gillespie was also credited with eight assists against only two turnovers.
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“Well, he got away from what we need to do because, I mean, and it’s good for him,” Barnes said of Gillespie. “It’s good for him, because people are going to go after him like that. He didn’t mix it up enough. He kept fighting it himself, where I thought he needed to do some of the adjustments that we gave him to do, to get to it. He didn’t do that, but it was a combination of a couple different things that we were trying. They were downing him which we knew they would do, and he kept fighting it when he didn’t need to do that.”
As expected, the Tennessee offense is going to run through Ament and Gillespie. The two of them combining to go 10-40 from the field though? Tennessee just isn’t going to win a lot of games that way. There were times where I thought Gillespie forced some tough shots that he didn’t really have to, but as Barnes said, it’s all good for him. This is virtually a completely different roster that probably lacks a little bit of chemistry to start the season. But it’s nothing to panic over just yet.
Remember, Tennessee dropped a scrimmage to a mediocre Indiana team this time last season. The Volunteers have five tune-up games to figure things out before things get real when they take a trip to Las Vegas to play Rutgers and Houston.
Tennessee will officially open the season against Mercer on November 3rd.
