LAS VEGAS – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team opened action at the Players Era Men’s Championship with a commanding 85-60 victory Monday morning over Rutgers at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie poured in a career-best 32 points in just 29 minutes for No. 17/16 Tennessee (6-0) in a game it led by as many as 36 points and trailed for just 14 seconds.
The Volunteers used a 12-3 spurt in 3:38 to build an early 21-10 advantage at the 10:27 mark of the first half, at which time Gillespie already had 14 points. Shortly thereafter, freshman forward Nate Ament went on a personal 9-2 run in just 55 seconds, giving him 14 points and putting the team ahead by 19, 41-22, with 5:19 on the timer.
Tennessee continued its offensive onslaught down the stretch, connecting on eight of its final nine field-goal attempts—it made seven in a row—to build a season-best 26-point advantage at the break. The lone miss was tipped in by redshirt sophomore J.P. Estrella just moments before the buzzer.
The Volunteers, who closed the half on a 7-0 run in the last 63 seconds, got 23 first-half points from Gillespie on 8-of-12 shooting, 17 from Ament on a 6-of-9 clip and eight apiece from Estrella and senior forward Felix Okpara. The team shot 59.4 percent (19-of-32) in the first stanza, including 61.5 percent (8-of-13) beyond the arc, as well as 90.9 percent (10-of-11) at the line. Meanwhile, Rutgers (4-2) scored a third of its first-half points at the free-throw line, where it went 10-of-15.
Tennessee extended its cushion up to 29, 67-38, on a 3-pointer by Gillespie with 13:34 remaining. That gave the Greeneville, Tenn., native 28 points, already a new career best. Another 3-pointer by Gillespie just 88 ticks later upped his mark to 31, gave him six makes—on just eight attempts—from long range for the first time as a collegian and put the Volunteers ahead by 30 points, 70-40.
Six more Tennessee points followed, making it a 9-0 surge in 3:02, to push the lead to 36 with 9:05 to go. The Scarlet Knights never got closer than 25 the rest of the way.
Gillespie’s 32-point performance came on 11-of-20 shooting, as he tied a career high in made field goals. He went 6-of-10 from beyond the arc to set a new career best in long-range makes, plus chipped in four assists, three rebounds, two steals and one block.
Ament finished with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. He went 7-of-14 from the floor and set a new career best in 3-point makes with a 4-of-6 ledger.
Estrella had 10 points, shooting 3-of-4 from the field and 4-of-4 at the line. Okpara matched him in the scoring column, finishing 4-of-6 on field goals and tying for the game lead with seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Bishop Boswell led all players with a career-high five assists.
Freshman guard Harun Zrno paced Rutgers with 14 points, finishing 3-of-5 from deep and 5-of-7 at the line. Redshirt junior guard Darren Buchanan Jr., had 13 points, while sophomore forward Dylan Grant added 10.
Despite missing its last four field-goal attempts, Tennessee shot 50.8 percent (31-of-61) in the win. It posted a season-best 50.0 percent (11-of-22) ledger from beyond the arc, as well.
At the other end, Tennessee held Rutgers to a 36.5 percent (19-of-52) clip from the field and a 31.6 percent (6-of-19) ledger from 3-point range, as well as to zero fast-break points.
The Volunteers continue Players Era Men’s Championship action Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET when they face No. 3/2 Houston at MGM Grand Garden Arena, live on TNT and HBO Max.
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 842 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).
• The Volunteers improved to 3-0 all-time against Rutgers, with each of the three matchups at least 22 years apart and all at different locations.
• Tennessee is now 3-0 against Big Ten schools over the last two seasons, with all three triumphs away from home.
• Rutgers is the 211th different program Barnes has defeated in his head coaching career, including the 207th at the Division I level at the time of the game and the 205th current Division I institution.
• Tennessee upped its mark to 13-10 in its 10 multi-team events in the Barnes era, including 6-9 in America and 4-5 in the continental U.S.
• The Volunteers are now 15-13 all-time in the Pacific Time Zone—does not include Alaska or Hawaii—with Monday’s contest their first in that region since Dec. 19, 2015.
• Tennessee improved to 2-3 all-time in the state of Nevada—all five games are in Las Vegas—with the prior games in December 1977 (0-2) and December 1982 (1-1).
• Tennessee has produced 18-plus assists in all five games this season, with Monday the first time it has not reached 19 and just the second time it has not logged at least 20.
• The Volunteers grabbed 43-plus rebounds and 15-plus offensive rebounds for the fifth time in six contests to open the year.
• Tennessee has won five consecutive games by at least 25 points, while all six of its victories this year are by 19-plus.
• Before taking a 26-point lead through 20 minutes against Rutgers, the Volunteers’ largest halftime edge of the year was 22 in its last game, Nov. 20 versus Tennessee State, when it led 43-21.
• Tennessee allowed the Scarlet Knights only nine rebounds in the first half of action, while grabbing 21 of its own.
• The 56 first-half points for Tennessee marked its most in a frame this season, eclipsing the prior best of 52, registered on three separate occasions.
• The last time the Volunteers had at least 56 points in a half was on Feb. 5, 2025, when it scored 57 after the intermission versus Missouri, while it last did so before the break on Dec. 21, 2020, against St. Joseph’s.
• Monday marked the sixth time in Barnes’ tenure on Rocky Top his team has scored 56-plus points in a half, including the second before the break.
• Tennessee has now scored 50-plus points in a half 19 times in the past three seasons (2023-26) after doing so 11 total times in the prior four years (2019-23).
• The Volunteers last made 19 field goals in a half on Dec. 3, 2024, in an SEC/ACC Challenge matchup with Syracuse, doing so after the break.
• The last time Tennessee made half its 3-point attempts was on March 22, 2025, versus UCLA in the NCAA Tournament in Lexington, Ky., when it shot an equal 11-of-22.
• Tennessee has now had two players score 20-plus points three times this season, all within the last five games and with all three duos including Gillespie.
• Gillespie’s 23 first-half points marked the most in a frame by a Volunteer this season, surpassing the 15 by Estrella before the break on Nov. 12 against North Florida and the 15 by Ament after the intermission on Nov. 8 versus Northern Kentucky.
• The last Volunteer with 20 points in a half was Chaz Lanier on March 8, when he had 20 after the break against South Carolina, while the last to do so in the first stanza was also Lanier, who achieved the feat with 22 before the intermission on Feb. 22 at Texas A&M.
• Before Gillespie, the last time a Tennessee player had 23-plus points in a half was on Nov. 22, 2024, in Nassau, Bahamas, when Chaz Lanier recorded 25 in the opening 20 minutes against Baylor.
• Gillespie’s 32 points marked the most by a Volunteer in a full game since March 31, 2024, when Dalton Knecht dropped 37 against Purdue in an NCAA Tournament matchup in Detroit.
• Seven different Volunteers—20 occurrences—have scored 30-plus points in a game under Barnes, with Gillespie following Chaz Lanier (one), Dalton Knecht (eight), Jaden Springer (one), Grant Williams (five), Admiral Schofield (one) and Kevin Punter Jr. (three).
• Before Gillespie, the last Volunteer to make six 3-pointers in a game was Chaz Lanier, who did so on March 20, 2025, versus Wofford in an NCAA Tournament affair in Lexington, Ky.
• Gillespie’s prior career-best point total was 27 points, which he recorded on Jan. 10, 2025, against UCLA, while with Maryland.
• The previous career-best 3-point high for Gillespie was five, registered on both Jan. 19, 2025, against Nebraska and on Feb. 20, 2025, versus Southern Cal, each while with Maryland.
• Gillespie’s 11 made field goals matched the career high he has recorded twice before, on both Feb. 16, 2025, against Iowa while with Maryland and one Feb. 14, 2024, versus Southern Illinois while with Belmont.
• The last player to score 30-plus points versus Rutgers was Abdi Bashir Jr., of Monmouth, who had 38 on Nov. 15, 2024.
• Gillespie is the second SEC player in the last six seasons (2020-26) to post 32 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and one block in a game, joining Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard, who do did so on Feb. 27, 2024, at Mississippi State.
• Ament connected four 3-pointers in a game for the first time in his young career, doubling his prior top total.
• Okpara’s streak of 22 consecutive jump-balls won—that includes the final 17 games of the 2024-25 campaign—came to an end Monday.
• With his second block of the day, at the 16:57 mark of the second half, Okpara reached 200 in his career, becoming the second active player—the other is Georgia’s Justin Abson—to hit that mark in Division I competition.
• Boswell, in his return from injury after missing the last three games, posted a career-best five assists, eclipsing the prior best of three recorded twice previously.
