Tennessee
How Tennessee basketball, Nate Ament pushed through Vanderbilt’s physicality
NASHVILLE — Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes often calls the SEC the most physical league in college basketball.
The Vols and Vanderbilt amped up the physicality to a higher level on Feb. 21. The referees largely allowed the players to push, trip and grab each other throughout the game. Splashes of orange repeatedly fell on the hardwood at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Vols (20-7, 10-4 SEC), however, continued to pick themselves back up in a 69-65 win over No. 18 Vanderbilt (21-6, 8-6), tying a program record of five consecutive 20-win seasons. The Vols last achieved the feat under Don DeVoe from 1980 to 1985.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes called the game “pretty physical.” Sophomore guard Bishop Boswell agreed.
“I think it’s pretty high up there,” Boswell said about where this win ranks for the team. “A rivalry game like this, you’re going to have to grind it out. It’s not always going to be easy and I think we did that.”
The increased intensity bothered Nate Ament through much of the game. The freshman, who scored 13 points on 3-of-13 shooting, often found himself challenging a sea of Commodores at the rim or attempting to regain his balance.
On one play, Ament blew past a defender and had his easiest shot attempt of the game. Instead of a highlight dunk fueling Tennessee’s second-half comeback, the 6-foot-10 forward slammed the ball into the rim. He would redeem himself, though, with an impossible jump shot against blanket coverage that gave the Vols a 66-65 lead with 54 seconds remaining.
“He struggled,” Barnes said. “They had a lot to do with that, obviously. But he made that one when it counted. He stayed with it.”
Tennessee basketball’s ‘other’ players were key
Although Ja’Kobi Gillespie led the Vols with 17 points, and Ament buried the picture-perfect shot, Barnes made sure to credit the role players.
Before Ament’s bucket, Boswell made two baskets that erased Vanderbilt’s three-point lead in the final 90 seconds.
“It was important because I do think Ja’Kobi and Nate were winded,” Barnes said. “Vanderbilt did a great job of guarding them all night long, like we guarded their guys. It’s going to come back to where those other three guys have to be able to make the plays. The steals that we had on the other end were important to get us back into the game. Ethan (Burg) had a great night. Amari (Evans) and Bishop, and DeWayne (Brown II), those guys were the key to the game today.”
Brown and Burg specifically made several plays to bring Tennessee back from a 49-42 deficit 10 minutes into the second half. Brown started the half for Felix Okpara, who was in foul trouble, and closed the game. He made a layup that brought Tennessee within four points, then made another that gave the Vols a 53-51 lead.
“DeWayne was really good,” Barnes said. “He played a lot of minutes. The more he’s out there, the better he’s going to be. He’s been the biggest surprise on the team this year. We talked about it earlier in the year when we got everybody together for the first time. Somebody is going to surprise you and somebody is going to disappoint you. No question DeWayne Brown has been the biggest surprise of the team this year.”
Burg re-entered the Vols’ rotation after his performance against LSU, and he further cemented his role against Vanderbilt. He drew an offensive foul, got a steal, and made a layup that tied the game.
As March approaches, Boswell feels better about the Vols’ depth after every win.
“Everybody might not have their best night every game,” he said, “but I think we have 15 guys that can come in and make an impact.”
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com
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Things went sideways quickly at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday as the No. 4 Texas Longhorns fell into an early hole and never recovered in a 5-1 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers that included another shoulder injury sustained by junior second baseman Ethan Mendoza.
After spending 15 games last year as the designated hitter following a shoulder injury sustained diving for a ground ball, Mendoza left the game in the first inning on a similar play, leaving head coach Jim Schlossnagle without much optimism that the Arizona State transfer will be able to return to action this weekend.
Without Mendoza in the lineup, Texas struggled at the plate against Tennessee ace Tegan Kuhns, who recorded a career-high 15 strikeouts in seven innings. Throwing 113 pitches, Kuhns allowed just four hits and one walk in his scoreless outing as the Horns ultimately struck out 19 times, leaving the bottom of the order without much production — sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez struck out all four times he came to the plate and junior designated hitter Ashton Larson, junior infielder Casey Borba, and freshman center fielder Maddox Monsour all struck out three times apiece.
Junior right fielder Aiden Robbins did have two hits — a double and a solo home run in the eighth inning — but didn’t receive help from the rest of the lineup.
And sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis looked human, a rare occurrence in his sterling career in burnt orange and white, allowing RBI doubles in the first and second innings and giving up another second-inning run on a wild pitch. Volantis recovered to throw three scoreless innings before redshirt senior right-hander Cody Howard pitched the final three innings, giving up two runs on two hits.
Texas tries to bounce back on Saturday with first pitch at 5 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – State Rep. Antonio Parkinson says Tennessee’s two blue cities, Memphis and Nashville, should break away and form their own state.
“I don’t think the state of Tennessee deserves a Memphis and Shelby County…or a Nashville, Davidson County,” Parkinson said on Action News 5’s A Better Memphis broadcast Friday.
Parkinson proposed creating a new state called West Tennessee, which would span from the eastern border of Nashville’s Davidson County to the Mississippi River.
“I’m not just talking about Memphis, I’m talking about the eastern border of Nashville, Davidson County and everything to the Mississippi River to create a new state called the new state of West Tennessee, the 51st state, West Tennessee,” Parkinson said.
Proposal follows new congressional map
Parkinson’s secession pitch follows the GOP supermajority approving a new congressional map Thursday that splits Shelby County into three districts, dismantling what was the state’s only majority-Black district.
“So this is about accountability. We’re paying all of this money, yet you remove our voice, so that is taxation without self-determination, taxation without actual representation,” Parkinson said.
Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton denies race was a factor when Republicans redrew the map.
“Look, at the end of the day we were able to draw a map based on population and based on politics, we did not use any racial data,” Sexton told Action News 5.
Sexton said Democrats did the same thing in the 1990s when they split Shelby County into three different congressional districts.
Secession requires state, federal approval
For Memphis to secede, it requires approval from the State of Tennessee and the U.S. Congress.
Parkinson said he’s willing to fight that uphill battle.
“Why should we stay in an abusive relationship where they’ve shown us the pattern over and over and over…where they do not see our value, and do not care about us,” Parkinson said.
This is not the first time Parkinson has suggested Memphis secede from Tennessee. He made the same call in 2018 after the Republican-controlled state legislature punished Memphis, cutting the city’s funding by $250,000, in retaliation for removing two Confederate statutes.
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