HONOLULU — No. 7 Tennessee lost to No. 1 Kansas, 69-60, in the Maui Invitational Wednesday afternoon.
The Vols were led early by Santiago Vescovi. He scored ten of UT's first 22 points with eight minutes remaining in the first half. His season-high prior to that was 11 points against Wofford. UT led 22-17.
Dalton Knecht rattled off six straight points for the Vols after that including an emphatic dunk off an alley-oop pass from Zakai Zeigler. However, that dunk was the only time Tennessee got points during a Kansas 14-2 run. Kansas star forward Hunter Dickinson scored eight of those 14 points during the run to put the Jayhawks up 32-28 with 2:14 left in the first half.
Tennessee stopped the run and was able to tie the game at halftime. Vescovi sunk a three-pointer with 37 seconds left in the half, UT and Kansas were at a 35-35 stalemate going into the break.
Vescovi had 13 points in the first half. Knecht scored ten points.
Through the under-12-minute timeout in the second half, Tennessee and Kansas stayed tied at 49-49. The Vols scored six of their 14 points to that point off of turnovers, continuing a trend from the first half.
Kansas jumped out to a six-point lead with 9:52 left in the second half. Tennessee struggled shooting the ball in the half as Kansas went up 57-51.
The Jayhawks jumped out to a ten-point lead when KJ Adams scored on a layup, as UT continued to struggle shooting the ball. Kansas led 65-55 with 4:12 to go. After the game was tied at 49-49, Kansas went on a 16-6 run.
The Vols weren't able to catch up. UT shot 31% from the field in the game. Kansas shot 52%.
Tennessee scored 17 points off turnovers, which played a huge part in their success in a game where they didn't shoot well. However, Kansas only had one turnover over the last 12 minutes, which is where the Jayhawks started to pull away.
Vescovi finished with 21 points and shot five of 10 from three-point range. Tennessee finished fourth in the tournament.
The Vols play No. 14 North Carolina next in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Nov. 29 in Chapel Hill.
