Josiah-Jordan James and Olivier Nkamhoua each scored a game-high 18 points to lead the No. 22 Tennessee Volunteers to an 81-50 victory over the visiting Florida Gulf Coast Eagles on Wednesday in Knoxville, Tenn.
James shot 5-for-8 from the field, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, and added six rebounds. Nkamhoua went 5-for-7, including making his lone 3-point attempt for the Volunteers (2-1), who rebounded from a 78-66 loss to Colorado on Sunday.
Julian Phillips had 11 points and five rebounds, with Jahmai Mashack adding 10 points and four rebounds. Santiago Vescovi finished with eight points, six rebounds and three assists.
The Eagles (2-2) were led by Zach Anderson, who had 11 points and five rebounds, while Dahmir Bishop added nine points.
Tennessee shot 24-for-49 (49 percent) from the field, including 8-for-20 (40 percent) from distance, in addition to outrebounding the Eagles 41-27.
Florida Gulf Coast shot 14-for-46 (30.4 percent) from the field, including 5-for-24 (20.8 percent) from beyond the arc, but committed 17 turnovers that the Volunteers converted into 20 points.
Leading 37-20 at intermission, the Volunteers put the game away by opening the second half on a 16-9 run to take a 53-29 lead following Mashack’s layup with 14:12 remaining.
The Volunteers took their largest lead of the game when Phillips’ two free throws made it 79-42 with 2:20 to go.
With the game tied 9-9 with 12:50 left in the first half, Tennessee went on a 14-0 run over the next 4:18 to take a 23-9 lead following Vescovi’s jumper with 8:32 remaining before halftime.
James scored 12 points, while Nkamhoua added nine points and Vescovi had eight as the trio accounted for 29 of the Volunteers’ 37 first-half points. The trio shot 8-for-14 from the field, including 5-for-8 from beyond the arc, while the rest of the Volunteers combined to shoot 1-for-8 and 1-for-4, respectively.
Anderson scored five points in the first 20 minutes, but no other Eagle scored more than four.
–Field Level Media
