Tennessee Basketball continues its early season dominance

Tennessee Basketball continues its dominance and improves to 5-0 on the season after a 102-66 win over Saint Joseph’s on Monday evening.

Two completely opposite teams took the floor on Monday evening in Thompson-Bowling Arena. No. 8 Tennessee basketball came into the game with a 4-0 record to take on 0-4 Saint Joseph’s. The Vols won by 36 points by a final score of 102-66.

The Vols offense seems to be clicking as they’ve now scored 100 points in its second-straight game. Five players from Tennessee finished with double-digit points at the end of the game, including four starters. Victor Bailey Jr. lead the Vols in scoring on the night with 18 points.

Santiago Vescovi was right behind Bailey with 16 points on the night. It was a great game scoring-wise, and the Vols were obviously the better team on the court, and that’s been the case for all five of Tennessee’s games this season.

The Tennessee defense also was able to put some pressure on the Hawks as the Vols forced 18 turnovers that led to 27 points. The Vols defense made sure Saint John’s didn’t retake the lead after its initial 3-2 lead at the beginning of the game. From there on, it was all Tennessee.

One thing that both teams shared was a seemingly love for fouls. Saint Joseph’s had 30 personal fouls, and Tennessee had 22 personal fouls. The Hawks had more fouls than they had assists and rebounds, which both fell under 30 each.

USC-Upstate is Tennessee’s final non-conference tune-up game before the Vols head into conference play. Tennessee’s head coach Rick Barnes recognized that once Tennessee gets into conference play, things will get a little more complicated.

"“When you get into conference play, everything gets turned up a level,” Rick Barnes said."

The Vols are off to a hot start and are one of four SEC teams that are still undefeated. Kentucky (1-5) and South Carolina (1-2) sit at the bottom of the SEC as they’re still trying to figure things out.