KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team turned in a 95-56 victory Saturday afternoon against Northern Kentucky at Food City Center.
No. 18/17 Tennessee (2-0) led by 20-plus for the final 21 minutes and got a game-high 23 points from forward Nate Ament, the most by a freshman for the Volunteers since Nov. 24, 2022.
After Northern Kentucky (1-1) took an early 10-5 lead, the Volunteers responded by not allowing a point for 5:27 and forcing seven straight missed field goals. They went on a 13-0 run during that stretch and eventually extended the spurt to 18-2 over 5:35, making the score 23-12 with 11:12 on the timer.
Tennessee shortly thereafter used a 13-2 burst in just 1:55—it featured 3-pointers by three different players—to take an 18-point advantage, 41-23, with 6:25 left in the half. The margin ballooned as high as 23 and the home team ultimately took a 52-31 cushion into the break.
The Volunteers went 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from 3-point range in the opening session and logged assists on 17 of their 20 made field goals.
Ament scored the first four points of the second frame to put his team up by 25, 56-31, with 18:23 remaining. Later in the stanza, he notched the final eight points of a 10-0 run over just 1:36 to put Tennessee ahead by a then-game-best 30, 73-43, with 11:53 to go.
The Volunteers’ final margin of 39 marked their largest lead of the day, as they scored the last 14 points over the closing four-and-a-half minutes.
Ament, who shot 6-of-12 from the floor and 9-of-10 at the line, scored 15 of his points during a second half in which he went 4-of-5 and a perfect 7-of-7, respectively. He added eight rebounds, a co-game-best five assists and two steals to a stellar line. Only two other Volunteers and five other SEC freshmen—Kennedy Chandler is on both lists—in the last 15 years (2011-26) have compiled 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals in a contest.
Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie gave Tennessee two 20-point scorers for the first time since March 16, 2025, as he finished with exactly 20 on an 8-of-14 clip that included a 4-of-10 mark from deep. Redshirt sophomore forward J.P. Estrella had career highs in points (17) and rebounds (11), the latter of which matched senior forward Felix Okpara for the game high.
Senior guard Donovan Oday and graduate forward Kael Robinson tallied 14 points apiece to co-lead the Norse. Robinson added eight rebounds, a team best.
The Volunteers excelled shooting the ball in all three areas, finishing with a 34-of-65 (52.3 percent) ledger from the floor, a 41.4 percent (12-of-29) mark on 3-pointers and a 15-of-19 (78.9 percent) count at the stripe. Northern Kentucky, at the other end, notched respective marks of just 21-of-58 (36.2 percent), 9-of-30 (30.0 percent) and 5-of-13 (38.5 percent).
The victors, who had a 42-22 edge in paint points and a 37-9 margin in bench points, amassed their 38th straight non-conference home win to, per Elias Sports Bureau, match the second-longest streak in program history.
The Volunteers are back in action Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a matchup with North Florida, live on SEC Network+ from Food City Center.
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
• Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes now owns 838 victories in his career, remaining in sole possession of first place among all active Division I head coaches and in ninth place all-time (min. 10 years in Division I).
• Northern Kentucky is the 210th different school Barnes has defeated as a head coach, including the 207th that was in Division I as of the game date and the 205th currently at the Division I level.
• Saturday marked the first meeting between the Volunteers and Norse, with Northern Kentucky the first of three opponents on Tennessee’s schedule it has never played before.
• Tennessee has now won 38 straight non-conference home games, a streak that dates to Dec. 8, 2020, and spans five-plus seasons.
• The Volunteers’ 38 consecutive non-conference home victories matches the second-longest streak in program history, per Elias Sports Bureau, matching a mark set from Dec. 15, 1996, to Dec. 17, 2001.
• After using just two starting lineups the entire 2024-25 season—one of them for 37 of 38 games—the Volunteers have now matched that total through just two outings in 2025-26.
• Ament’s four-point play at the 16:11 mark of the first half marked the first for Tennessee since March 5, 2025, when Igor Miličić Jr., had one at Ole Miss.
• Two Tennessee players, sophomore guards Bishop Boswell and Ethan Burg, went 2-of-2 from 3-point range in the opening half, while two others, Ament and Gillespie, each logged multiple makes of their own.
• The Volunteers last scored 50-plus points in the first half on Nov. 17, 2024, when they amassed 52 versus Austin Peay.
• Tennessee has now scored at least 50 points in a half 16 times in the last two-plus seasons (2023-26) after doing so 11 total times in the prior four years (2019-23).
• The Volunteers’ last win by 39-plus points came on Dec. 17, 2024, when they defeated Western Carolina by 48, 84-36.
• Tennessee last had multiple 20-point scorers on March 16, 2025, in the SEC Tournament title game against Florida in Nashville, Tenn., when Jordan Gainey (24) and Zakai Zeigler (23) achieved the feat.
• The Volunteers’ most recent outing with three 17-point scorers was on Feb. 14, 2024, at Arkansas, when Jonas Aidoo (23), Dalton Knecht (22) and Jordan Gainey (17) all hit that figure.
• Saturday marked the 15th time in Barnes’ 11-year tenure (2015-26) that three of his players scored at least 17 points in a game, with nine of the prior 14 featuring two-time SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams.
• The last time Tennessee had multiple players with double-digit rebounds was on Nov. 27, 2024, versus UT Martin, when Igor Miličić Jr. (13) and Okpara (11) both did so.
• The Volunteers had two players record five-plus assists, as freshman guard Troy Henderson tallied five, for the second consecutive game to open the year after they achieved that four total times in 2024-25.
• After logging 52 appearances off the bench in his initial two-plus seasons, junior forward Cade Phillips made his first collegiate start Saturday and scored the opening basket just 14 seconds in.
• Boswell made both his 3-point attempts in the first 12 minutes, tripling his career 3-point total, as his lone previous such make came Monday against Mercer in the season opener.
• Boswell also set career bests in points (six), minutes (22) and made field goals (two), with the former two both eclipsing marks he set in Monday’s season opener versus Mercer.
• Estrella pulled down eight rebounds in the first half alone, already setting a new career high, en route to reaching double figures for the first time and recording his first double-double.
• After never previously scoring double-digit points, Estrella has now done it in the first two games of 2025-26, with his 17 eclipsing the 12 the had Monday against Mercer for a new career best.
• Ament’s 23 points gave him the most by a Tennessee freshman since Julian Phillips scored 25 on Nov. 24, 2022, versus USC in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
• The only other Tennessee players to amass 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals in a game over the last 15 years (2015-26) are Josiah-Jordan James on March 1, 2022, at Georgia and Kennedy Chandler on Feb. 22, 2022, at Missouri.
• Ament and Chandler are two of just six SEC freshmen to record that line in a contest over the past 15 seasons (2011-26), joining Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard (Dec. 2, 2023, against UNC Wilmington); Alabama’s Brandon Miller (March 12, 2023, against Texas A&M in Nashville, Tenn.); LSU’s Ben Simmons (Dec. 2, 2015, against North Florida) and Kentucky’s James Young (Jan. 8, 2014, against Mississippi State).
• Henderson became the first Tennessee freshman with five assists in a game since Julian Phillips registered six on Jan. 25, 2023, against Georgia.
• In addition, Henderson became the Volunteers’ first freshman with five-plus assists and no turnovers since Kennedy Chandler—he had seven helpers—in the SEC Tournament title game versus Texas A&M on March 13, 2022, in Tampa, Fla.
• Okpara pulled down double-digit rebounds for the 11th time as a collegian, including the fourth as a Volunteer..
