Knoxville, TN – The Tennessee men’s basketball team dropped an 86-82 decision Saturday afternoon to No. 24/22 Vanderbilt to conclude the 2025-26 regular season.
No. 23/25 Tennessee (21-10, 11-7 SEC) played without freshman forward Nate Ament, its leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, for the second game in a row. Freshman guard Amari Evans paced the team with a career-high 24 points at Food City Center.
Vanderbilt (24-7, 11-7 SEC) started 7-of-11 from the floor—it scored the first six points and then, after allowing a basket, went a 9-0 run in 3:28—to claim a 15-2 lead at the 13:33 mark, with the Volunteers then just 1-of-5. Tennessee responded with nine of the next 12 points to cut the deficit to seven, 18-11, with 9:35 left in the frame.
After the visitors pushed the lead back to 13, Tennessee used a 7-0 surge over 2:24 to trim the margin to six, 26-20, with 3:35 to go before halftime. Vanderbilt tallied six of the last eight points of the session and took a 32-22 edge into the break, aided by a 20-8 cushion in paint points.
Vanderbilt logged eight of the first 10 points coming out of the locker room to go up by 16, 40-24, with 17:45 remaining and then, 3:52 later, stretched it to a game-best 17. The Volunteers responded an 8-1 burst in 1:12—it started with six straight points in 22 seconds—to make it 52-42 with 12:25 left.
The Commodores thrice extended their advantage to a baker’s dozen, but Tennessee got it below double digits, to 65-57, with 7:22 on the clock. Vanderbilt logged the next four points, but the Volunteers answered with seven in a row over 42 seconds to get within five, 69-64, with 5:27 to go.
The visitors scored the next five points to go back up by double digits just 77 ticks later, but Tennessee continued to claw and got the number to six, 77-71, with 1:18 left. It got the deficit to four, 82-78, with 32 seconds to play and then forced a turnover in the backcourt, but could not convert and never got any closer.
Vanderbilt went 10-of-12 at the free-throw line in the final 87 seconds, including connecting on all six of its attempts in the last closing 47 ticks to seal the decision.
Evans, who eclipsed his prior career best in scoring by eight points, shot 9-of-18 from the field to also set a new career high in makes. He hit multiple 3-pointers for the second time, plus went 4-of-7 at the line to set new top tallies in both categories. The Pittsburgh native added six rebounds and a co-career-best three steals, the latter figure leading the team.
Redshirt sophomore J.P. Estrella scored 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including connecting on a 3-pointer. It marked the second straight 20-point showing off the bench for the Scarborough, Maine, native, who previously had just one 20-point performance as a collegian. He pulled down a co-game-high 10 rebounds to notch his fourth collegiate double-double.
Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 17 points and a co-game-best four assists, while senior forward Felix Okpara totaled eight points, 10 rebounds and a co-season-best four blocks, with the latter number pacing all players and the middle figure tying Estrella for the game lead.
Sophomore guard Tyler Tanner paced all players with 25 points for Vanderbilt, finishing 7-of-9 from the floor, 2-of-2 beyond the arc and 9-of-10 at the line. Graduate center A.K. Okereke notched 17 points on a 5-of-8 clip from the field and a 6-of-9 ledger at the stripe, while graduate guard Duke Miles added 13 points and a game-best four steals.
Tennessee scored 60 points—its most in a half in a league game in the Rick Barnes era—on 52.4 percent (22-of-42) shooting in the second half, but Vanderbilt amassed 54 on a 63.6 percent (14-of-22) line at the other end in the frame. In total, the Commodores shot 52.9 percent (27-of-51) overall, 50.0 percent (5-of-10) beyond the arc and 84.4 percent (27-of-32) on free throws.
With the regular season complete, the Volunteers will now head to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., for the SEC Tournament. After tying for fourth place in the SEC standings, Tennessee will be the fifth seed in the event and begin play Thursday at 3:00pm ET against a to-be-determined opponent.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
