Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament combined for 52 points and 10 3-pointers as No. 17 Tennessee walloped Rutgers 85-60 to tip off the Players Era men’s tournament on Monday in Las Vegas.
A Maryland transfer, Gillespie had a career day with personal bests of 32 points and six 3-pointers on 10 attempts. Freshman Ament added 17 of his 20 points in the first half for the Volunteers (6-0).
Felix Okpara and J.P. Estrella scored 10 points apiece and Okpara had a game-high-tying seven rebounds as Tennessee dominated 43-28 on the boards, including 15 offensive rebounds and 21 second-chance points. The Vols shot 59.4% in the first half on their way to 50.8% for the game.
Harun Zrno scored 14 points, Darren Buchanan Jr. had 13 and Dylan Grant put up 10 for Rutgers (4-2), which lost its second straight game.
Tennessee now prepares to face No. 3 Houston on Tuesday, with a chance at reaching the Players Era championship game Wednesday. Rutgers will meet Notre Dame on Tuesday.
Gillespie poured in 19 points in the first 12:10 of action, outscoring the entire Rutgers team (17) to that point.
Gillespie knocked down three of his first four looks from deep. Then he was the recipient of Rutgers’ attempt to save a ball from going out of bounds, and he went coast to coast for an easy lay-in. His fourth three and a driving layup made it 29-17 Tennessee with 7:50 before halftime.
Zrno scored six straight Rutgers points and nine of 11 in one stretch to keep his side alive, but things were unraveling at the other end. The Volunteers kept getting open 3-pointers off screen action, and soon Ament buried three of them.
On the play after his third triple, Ament had a steal and score to make it 41-22 with 5:19 left in the half.
Tennessee wasn’t done, making eight of its final nine shots of the half. Estrella, who hurt his knee last week against Rice and missed the Vols’ following game, slammed a two-handed dunk on a fast break and then got a tip-in to fall as the clock hit zeroes for a 56-30 advantage.
Gillespie hit another pair of threes a minute and a half apart during the second half, the latter giving the Volunteers their first 30-point lead at 70-40 with 12:06 to play.
Tennessee led by as many as 36 until Rutgers had a 6-for-8 shooting stretch, featuring six points from Buchanan. The Scarlet Knights then inserted a lineup of mostly freshmen to play out the string.
