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Tennessee basketball blows out No. 2 Gonzaga in exhibition game
By Andrew Olson
Published:
It won’t count on the record, but the 2022-23 Tennessee basketball team already has an impressive victory. The No. 11 Volunteers exploded in the second half to beat No. 2 Gonzaga 99-80 at the Legends of Basketball Classic in Texas.
With it being an exhibition game, Rick Barnes and Gonzaga’s Mark Few agreed to no foul outs, which made for a physical contest on the court.
“We knew before the game started we were going to play with no foul-outs,” Barnes told reporters after the game. “We knew that. That might have made it a little bit overly aggressive, too, at times. Because there were a lot of fouls there early.”
Gonzaga led by 4 at the half (54-50), but Tennessee dominated the second half 49-26 for the 99-80 final score.
Tyreke Key led the Vols with 26 points, including 16 in the first half.
? FINAL NUMBERS ?
Key – 26p / 8-12fg / 4r
Zeigler – 13p / 4r / 8a / 3s
Plavšić – 13p / 6-6fg / 4a / 3b
Phillips – 12p / 4-5fg
Nkamhoua – 11p / 14r
Vescovi – 9p / 7a
Aidoo – 9p / 3a
Awaka – 4p / 3r
Mashack – 2p / 2r pic.twitter.com/dZ0HaMVFBP— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) October 29, 2022
“He looked very relaxed tonight, he really did,” Barnes said of Key. “We’ve seen him do it. We knew he has the ability to get going. We’ve watched him do it all summer.”
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
