No. 20 Tennessee sailed through the first three weeks of its schedule. The competition ratchets up a notch at this week’s Players Era Men’s Championship but the Volunteers are catching Rutgers at an ideal time.
Tennessee is one of the additions to the event as it expands from eight to 18 teams in its second year. The Vols will tip against the Scarlet Knights on Monday morning, local time, in Las Vegas.
The Volunteers (5-0) beat a quintet of mid-majors by an average of 28.2 points, the eighth-best scoring margin nationally as of Sunday morning. They’ve managed to do so thanks to another stingy Rick Barnes defense that’s top-10 in the country in field goal percentage allowed (34.0%).
This was most recently on display Thursday night when the Volunteers rolled past Tennessee State 89-60, as the Tigers were just 18-of-56 shooting overall and 5-of-27 shooting from the 3-point arc. They also forced 22 turnovers and converted them into 24 points.
Maryland transfer Ja’Kobi Gillespie and five-star freshman Nate Ament continued to power the Vols’ offense, combining for 32 points and nine assists in the win. Ament also had four steals and Gillespie added three. Ament averages team highs of 18.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game, and Gillespie chips in 16.6 points and a team-best 6.0 assists per contest.
But Tennessee played without its third-leading scorer, J.P. Estrella (14.0 points per game), who hurt his knee three days prior against Rice. Estrella was diagnosed with a bone bruise, and Barnes cautioned that the team would not rush him back until the forward is comfortable enough to play.
The player who stepped up most in Estrella’s absence Thursday was freshman DeWayne Brown II, who dropped 13 points in 16 minutes (both career bests).
“(Brown) has been the biggest surprise on our team this year by far,” Barnes told reporters. “We knew when we recruited him that he was going to be a really good player. We didn’t know how long it would take him. He is way ahead of where we thought he would be to where we are not afraid to put him to play at any time.”
Tennessee is new to the Players Era event but has a good recent track record of in-season tournaments. The Vols won the Baha Mar Championship last year on their way to a 14-0 start. The program also won the 2022-23 Battle 4 Atlantis title.
For the second year in a row, Rutgers (4-1) is flying to Las Vegas after an unexpected loss to lower-level competition.
Last year, the Scarlet Knights dropped a game to Kennesaw State two days before the Players Era debut. On Friday, they suffered a 67-54 defeat to Central Connecticut State, a strong Northeast Conference team that already has beaten Boston College this season.
“I told our guys — I don’t know if their mind was on Vegas or whatever — Central Connecticut is really good and (coach Patrick Sellers) has done a great job there,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said postgame. “We have to play with more energy, we gotta play harder, we gotta rebound better.”
Rutgers was outshot 39.3% to 36.2%, outscored 27-15 on 3-pointers and outrebounded by four. Tariq Francis led with 19 points and Denis Badalau had 11, but none of their teammates contributed more than six.
“We have no time to put our heads down,” Pikiell said. “We got Tennessee coming up, arguably one of the best teams in the country. So, we gotta bounce back and we gotta do it quickly.”
Dylan Grant (16.6 points per game) and Francis (14.8) are Rutgers’ top scorers.
The Scarlet Knights opened last year’s event by edging Notre Dame in overtime before losing to ranked Alabama and Texas A&M squads.
