Tennessee picked up its fourth straight win with an 84-66 victory over Ole Miss, powered by Nate Ament’s 26 points in the second half.
Ament and Ja’Kobi Gillespie combined for 48 points to lead the Vols, who controlled long stretches on both ends. Even with the comfortable margin, Tennessee showed a few areas that will need tightening moving forward.
Here are three takeaways from the Vols’ 16th win of the season.
Ament’s Adjustment
Nate Ament’s growth was evident again. The freshman took over the second half with 26 points (28 for the game).
After a shaky first half against Ole Miss’ extra attention, Ament settled in and showed his scoring versatility. He found pockets in the midrange, got to the rim and knocked down two three-pointers.
His confidence showed up late in the shot clock. With less than 15 minutes left, Ament cut toward the baseline and Jaylen Carey found him with a second on the clock. Ament faded and banked in a tough finish. A few minutes later on the left wing, he took one dribble and buried a contested three.
If Ament can keep handling that level of attention, Tennessee’s offense looks much more dangerous heading into the stretch run.
Gillespie’s Left-Corner Lift
With Tennessee’s interior finishing uneven early, Gillespie’s shot-making mattered. He finished 5-for-10 from deep with 20 points, scoring in a variety of ways off dribble handoffs, ball movement and corner spot-ups.
Gillespie entered the game just 2-for-13 from the left corner this season, but Tennessee generated two looks from that spot and he hit both. The first came after Troy Henderson drew help on a drive and kicked it out to Gillespie for a wide-open corner three. The second came on a baseline out-of-bounds play when Gillespie recognized nobody was attached to him, sprinted to the left corner and DeWayne Brown found him for another three.
When Gillespie is hitting from deep, it opens up Tennessee’s offense. Defenses have to stay connected to him on the perimeter, which creates more space for the Vols’ bigs to operate inside.
Bigs Bothered in the Paint
While Tennessee’s bigs have imposed their size on multiple opponents this season, the Vols struggled to finish around the rim against Ole Miss. Without Felix Okpara for the second straight game, Tennessee went 1-for-6 on layups in the first half.
The struggles showed up most with DeWayne Brown, JP Estrella and Jaylen Carey. Brown missed back-to-back point-blank looks with less than five minutes left in the first half. Estrella had a dunk blocked from behind, then missed a layup and a putback in the final two minutes of the opening period. Those types of misses left points on the board and kept Tennessee from creating separation.
Ole Miss entered the game undersized, but it consistently sent quick help and hard doubles to neutralize Tennessee’s advantage. The extra attention crowded the paint, took away clean gathers and forced Tennessee’s bigs into rushed, contested finishes.
Rick Barnes addressed the issues at halftime, and the Vols finished 5-for-13 overall. Tennessee will need to be consistent in both halves against the top teams in the nation.
Ament’s second-half takeover and Gillespie’s timely shooting gave Tennessee plenty of breathing room. The Vols also showed they can adjust on the fly, but the early missed finishes in the paint are the kind of possessions that swing games against elite competition. If Ament keeps trending up, Tennessee’s margin for error gets a lot bigger.
