KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team began its 2025-26 campaign with an 83-76 setback against No. 6/5 Duke in an exhibition contest at a sold-out Food City Center.
No. 18/17 Tennessee built a nine-point lead late in the first half, but the Blue Devils stormed back in the second half to earn the win. Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie paced the home team with 19 points and a game-best eight assists in the hard-fought defeat.
The Volunteers raced out to an 11-4 lead at the 14:28 of the opening half, as they held Duke to just two makes on its opening 12 attempts. After six straight points by the Blue Devils, Tennessee scored seven in a row in just 57 seconds to go up by eight, 18-10, with 11:36 on the clock. Duke countered with a 7-0 run to close within one, but Tennessee then had another 7-0 surge of its own to take a 25-17 edge with 7:48 left in the session.
Tennessee twice stretched its edge to a game-best nine in the final 90 seconds of the first half, but Duke scored the last three points of the frame to make it 43-37 at the break. Freshman forward DeWayne Brown II scored 10 points in just six minutes for the Volunteers, making all five of his field-goal attempts in his first college action.
Duke started the second half on a 10-2 run to take its first lead of the game, 47-45, with 18:14 left. The surge included eight points from sophomore guard/forward Isaiah Evans, who hit the go-ahead 3-pointer.
Gillespie responded with a 3-pointer to put Tennessee back in front, the Blue Devils went on a 9-0 run in 2:01 to take an eight-point advantage, 60-52, with 13:56 to play. Three consecutive baskets, including long-range makes by Gillespie and sophomore guard Ethan Burg, helped the Volunteers get the margin to two, 62-60, with 12:01 remaining.
Duke, though, countered with a 9-2 run to go up by a game-high nine points, 71-62, with 7:44 on the clock. Tennessee would not go away and cut the deficit down to three, 75-72, with 2:59 to go.
A pair of free throws by the Blue Devils pushed the differential back to five and it remained that way into the final minute, with Duke possession, but junior forward Cade Phillips came away with a steal and hit Gillespie for a fast-break dunk to make it 77-74 with 37.5 ticks left. The comeback bid ended there, however, as the Blue Devils—they did not connect on a field goal in the final 6:45—made all six of their free throws the rest of the way.
Gillespie made all six of his free throws en route to his team-best point total, as well as committed just two turnovers in 36-plus minutes of action. He finished with two more assists than any other player on either side.
Freshman forward Nate Ament totaled 14 points and a team-leading 10 rebounds to post a double-double in his first outing at Food City Center. Senior forward Felix Okpara had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including making his lone 3-point attempt, as well as pulled down eight boards and blocked a team-high two shots. Brown finished with 10 points, six rebounds and one block.
Freshman forward Cameron Boozer excelled for the Blue Devils, notching game highs in points (24) and rebounds (23), as well as a team high in assists (six). Tennessee held him to 7-of-20 shooting, including a 3-of-12 start through 19-plus minutes, but he went 9-of-11 from the line.
Evans recorded 22 points and five boards for Duke. Tennessee limited him to a 5-of-14 overall clip, but he was 4-of-9 beyond the arc and a perfect 8-of-8 at the stripe. Sophomore center Patrick Ngongba II posted 15 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Devils, shooting 5-of-6 on field goals and 4-of-4 on free throws.
Tennessee, which had a 28-10 cushion in bench points, conceded just a 34.8 percent (24-of-69) ledger from the floor, but Duke shot a dazzling 92.6 percent (25-of-27) at the line. The victors also registered a 37.0 percent (10-of-27) mark from beyond the arc.
The Volunteers begin the regular season Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. when they square off with Mercer at Food City Center, live on SEC Network+.
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.
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES
• The attendance of 21,678 for the exhibition gave Food City Center its first sellout of the 2025-26 season.
• Although not an official game, Sunday marked the first time Tennessee and Duke faced each other in an on-campus matchup since Dec. 7, 1976, when they played in Knoxville.
• In Tennessee’s first action of 2025-26, a total of 39 NBA scouts from 22 different franchises had credentials for the game.
• Tennessee dropped to 87-20 all-time in exhibition games, including 65-13 in the United States, 62-11 in Knoxville, 56-9 in preseason contests (games just before the start of the regular season), 28-3 against United States colleges and 2-2 versus Division I teams.
• The Volunteers are now 15-2 in exhibition affairs under Barnes, including 9-2 against United States colleges and 7-2 in Knoxville.
• Sunday marked the fourth consecutive season Tennessee has played a Division I team—all were ranked top-20—in a preseason exhibition contest after never previously doing so.
• In three—2022-23, 2023-24 and 2025-26—of the past four seasons, Tennessee has played an exhibition game against Division I team ranked in the top six of the preseason AP Poll, posting a 2-1 record.
• Ament scored the first points of the game—and, unofficially, of the Tennessee season—on a midrange jump-shot with 17:42 left on the first-half timer.
• Redshirt sophomore forward J.P. Estrella drilled a 3-pointer with 12:05 on the first-half timer on the first attempt—albeit unofficially—from long range of his college career.
• Okpara, who went 2-of-12 from 3-point range over the first three years of his career, knocked down his first unofficial attempt of the season with 4:16 to go in the first half.
• Six Volunteers saw their first action at Food City Center: Ament, Brown, Burg, Carey, senior guard Amaree Abram and junior forward Jaylen Carey.
