Fourth-ranked Tennessee emerged with an impressive 11-point victory, putting 10th-ranked Texas away, 82-71, in what was a raucous environment Saturday in a sold-out Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee (18-3) has won six of its last seven games against AP top-10 opponents.
Vols forward Olivier Nkamhoua led all scorers in the victory, logging a career-high 27 points on 12-for-15 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, three assists, and a block. All-American candidate Zakai Zeigler stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points on 7-for-10 shooting in 37 minutes, including a 3-of-6 mark from 3-point range, a career-high-tying 10 assists, three boards, and a pair of steals.
Josiah-Jordan James was Tennessee’s third-highest scorer with 14 points, also producing seven rebounds in the top-10 triumph over the Longhorns (17-4). Santiago Vescovi also impacted the winning effort with 12 points and eight rebounds while finishing with a team-best plus/minus rating of +18.
The Vols limited fifth-year Texas guard Marcus Carr, who entered the game averaging 17.6 points per game and a 3-point accuracy rate of 41.5 percent, to 11 points on 1-for-6 (.167) shooting from behind the arc Saturday. The Longhorns were led by Sir’Jabari Rice, who scored 21 off the bench.
After Saturday’s brief hiatus with the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, Tennessee resumes conference play on Wednesday at Florida. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with Vol Network radio coverage on 103.1 FM WIKQ.
