KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee men’s basketball took care of Texas by a final score of 82-71 inside Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday.
The fourth-ranked Vols and tenth-ranked Longhorns were pretty even through the first 10 minutes of the first half.
Tennessee found a way to go on a 9-0 run, a stretch in which Texas didn’t score for a little over six minutes. They led 26-19 at that point.
With 3:44 left in the half, Zakai Zeigler turned the ball over and the Longhorns scored to make it 30-23- The guard then scored on an and-one, a three-pointer, came up with a steal and then made the two free throws after getting fouled, rattling off 8 points stayer his mistake.
The Vols led 40-28 at halftime.
Zeigler finished with 8 points and 6 assists in the first half. Olivier Nkamhoua scored 14 points in the first half.
It was all Zeigler and Nkamhoua to start the second half too.
Nkamhoua scored the bf rosy six points of the half for Tennessee and then Zeigler splashed two three-pointers to give the Vols a 52-37 lead.
Tennessee would get up by over 20 points when Santiago Vescovi drilled a three-pointer to make it 61-39.
Texas used an 11-2 run to cut the Tennessee lead to 63-50, capped off with a Sir’Jabari Rice three-pointer.
Texas for within 11. Nkamhoua slammed home a dunk to put Tennessee back up 13 with 4:08 left in the half.
The Vols found answers on offense to close out the game and win, 82-71.
Nkamhoua finished with 27 points and 7 rebounds. Zeigler finished with 22 points and 10 assists.
The Vols now have five straight wins over an Associated Press Top 10 team at home.
Tennessee plays again on Feb. 1 against Florida on the road. That game tips off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ESPN2.
