By SCOTT FELTS
The Oklahoma Sooners traveled to Knoxville on Wednesday night to take on the Tennessee Volunteers with both teams looking for their third straight win. Tennessee (19–7, 9–4) decimated Oklahoma (13–13, 3–10) in almost every statistical way en route to a 89-66 victory at Food City Center in a game where the Vols never trailed.
Sure the Vols won big, but how? Let’s go Beyond the Box Score and find out.
Shooters Gonna Shoot: Both teams shot over 50% in the first half. The Sooners who are third in the SEC in made 3-pointers per game with nine per game, shot 5 of 12 in the first half beyond the arc. That fact, along with a 2-3 zone that kept also Tennessee a little off-balance against LSU over the weekend, kept the Sooners in the game at the half, down only nine despite nine turnovers that led to 18 Tennessee points.
In the second half the Sooners cut the lead to six with just over six minutes to play. The Vols then went on an 11–0 run to expand the lead and eventually ended the game on a 21-4 run for their eighth win in the last 10 games.
Four Headed Monster: Often times this season the Vols have searched for a third option for scoring beyond freshman forward Nate Ament (who tied a career high with 29) and senior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (16 points, 8 assists, 8 steals). On Wednesday, the Vols found two other scorers. Big men Felix Okpara (18 points and 7 boards) and DeWayne Brown (13 points) helped lead the way. Only three other Vols even scored and were all in single digits. The Vols did a good job of replacing redshirt freshman J.P. Estrella who missed the game with a foot injury.
Stat Line Magic: The Vols forced a total of 15 turnovers to post an astonishing 31-7 advantage in points off turnovers. The Vols always do well on the boards and tonight was no different as they out-rebounded Oklahoma 36-19 and 14-4 on the offensive glass. The Vols also won in steals (10-4), assists (22-10), blocks (5-3) and did a whopping 52% of their offense in the paint, outscoring OU 46-18.
Three Pack: Redshirt Senior Nijel Pack, who is in his first year with the Sooners, ranks third among active players with 2,164 career points. Over the last seven games Pack is now averaging 18.8 points and has shot over 50% from 3 on 54 attempts over those games. He was four or five from 3 on Wednesday and it’s just three away from becoming just the 31st Division I player ever to register 400 made 3-pointers.
Up Next: Tennessee travels to Nashville on Saturday to take on 19th ranked Vanderbilt (21-4, 8-4). The Commodores are coming off a one point loss at Missouri late Wednesday night. That loss drops Vandy to five SEC losses in a five-way tie for fifth. With the Vols’ win and Alabama’s upset over Arkansas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama all have only four conference losses.
Tip Ins: The game was just the third all-time meeting between the two teams. Tennessee leads the series 3–0. … The Vols are now (14–1, 6-1) at home this season. The only loss? You guessed it: Kentucky. … Gillespie’s eight steals set a program single-game record.