Knoxville, TN – The Tennessee men’s basketball team build an advantage as high as 46 points Sunday afternoon in a 94-52 win over Gardner-Webb at Food City Center.
Senior guards Amaree Abram and Ja’Kobi Gillespie co-led all scorers for No. 20/23 Tennessee (9-3), as the Volunteers tied a program record with a 43rd consecutive non-conference home victory.
After Gardner-Webb (2-13) tallied the initial five points, Tennessee responded with 24 of the next 26 across 7:03 of action, taking full control of the contest. The burst ended with 17 straight points in just 4:17 to make the score 24-7 with 9:39 on the first-half clock.
Soon thereafter, the Volunteers went on a 22-5 run in 5:52, capped with 10 consecutive points in 2:37, to claim a 31-point edge, 48-17, with 80 seconds left in the session. The lead reached 33, 52-19, at the break behind a 22-of-38 (57.9 percent) ledger from the floor. The 19 points by the Runnin’ Bulldogs marked the fewest conceded by Tennessee in a half since January 21st, 2025.
The Volunteers extended their margin up to 40 points, 64-24, on a putback layup by junior forward Jaylen Carey with 15:19 remaining. They last held a 40-point margin just over a year ago, on Dec. 17, 2024. The lead stretched to 46 on multiple occasions, first at 72-26 with 13:07 to go.
After a 10-of-38 start from the floor, Gardner-Webb made nine of its next 11 field-goal attempts to get its deficit just below 40, 87-38, with 6:49 left. The visitors never got any closer and Tennessee went on to finish with a final 42-point cushion for its 16th win by 40-plus in head coach Rick Barnes‘ 11-year tenure, including its 12th in the last six seasons (2020-26).
Abram’s season-high-tying 15-point performance came on 6-of-7 shooting, as he made his first six attempts of the day and added a co-team-best three steals. Gillespie, meanwhile, dished out a season-best nine assists alongside his 15 points.
Carey totaled 12 points and six rebounds, while redshirt sophomore forward J.P. Estrella had 10 points and seven rebounds. Freshman guard Troy Henderson scored a career-best nine points, finishing 3-of-5 from long range in the win. Freshman forward DeWayne Brown II led all players with a career-high 14 rebounds to tie the fifth-highest-total by a Volunteer in the Barnes era.
Ten different Tennessee players connected on multiple field-goal attempts and registered at least six points in the triumph.
Junior guard/forward Curtis Williams III paced the Runnin’ Bulldogs with 14 points, despite Tennessee limiting him to 5-of-15 shooting, including to a 2-of-10 mark from deep. Redshirt junior forward D.J. Jefferson, a Volunteer from 2022-24, scored 13 points for Gardner-Webb. No other player on the roster had greater than six points.
Tennessee, which shot 38-of-71 (53.5 percent) from the floor and held Gardner-Webb to a 20-of-58 (34.5 percent) figure, compiled a 52-20 advantage in bench scoring and a 52-22 margin in paint points.
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Next Up For UT Men’s Basketball
The Tennessee Vols basketball team now has eight days off before returning to action December 30th at 8:00pm against South Carolina State, live on SEC Network from Food City Center.
