National Basketball Association
Tennessee 88, Vanderbilt 83
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Where: Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tennessee
Officials:
# Terry Wymer, # Steve Oglesby, # Pat Adams
Attendance:
14316
By Field Level Media
All-America forward Grant Williams scored 43 points as Tennessee celebrated its first No. 1 ranking in nearly 11 years with an 88-83 overtime victory over Vanderbilt on Wednesday night in Nashville's Memorial Gymnasium.
The Volunteers (17-1, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) won their 13th game in a row while the Commodores (9-9, 0-6) lost their sixth in a row.
Williams hit all 23 of his free throws for Tennessee, and he was 10 of 15 from the field. Guard Jordan Bone (14 points) was the only other Vol in double figures.
Guards Aaron Nesmith (24 points) and Saben Lee (21) and forwards Matt Ryan (12) and Simi Shittu (10) paced the Commodores.
Vanderbilt led by six late, but Williams drew a Flagrant 1 on Vanderbilt forward Clevon Brown -- his fourth foul -- and hit both free throws with 1:22 left. Two seconds later, Williams sank a layup. Forward Admiral Schofield hit a short shot in the paint to tie the game at 76 with 38 seconds left.
Brown blocked a Williams 3-point attempt at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
Williams picked up where he left off, converting a three-point play off the low block for the first overtime points.
Later, with Vanderbilt up by one, Williams got the ball in the low block, spun, dropped in a layup, got fouled by Vanderbilt's Matt Moyer and sank the free throw for an 84-82 lead with 31.6 seconds to play.
It was like that the entire second half, with the Volunteers getting Williams the ball in the paint and the junior drawing a foul with just about every touch.
However, the Commodores kept milking the shot clock and converting late. With 3:48 to go in regulation, a rare Lee 3-pointer -- his third of the game and ninth of the season -- extended the Vanderbilt lead to 70-65.
Yet the Volunteers battled back to send it to overtime.
It took Tennessee just 4:17 to open a double-digit lead. The Volunteers scored the game's first eight points, with Vanderbilt unable to get on the board until Lee's layup at 16:43. It quickly became a 15-2 lead, and Vanderbilt called time out at 14:58.
The Commodores started hitting a few jumpers and getting to the rim. Suddenly they trailed only 32-29 with 3:22 left in the half after Nesmith converted a layup off a pass from forward Yanni Wetzell and then made a foul shot.
Less than a minute later, Vanderbilt took its first lead when Shittu's steal set up Nesmith's fastbreak layup on the other end at 2:31.
A Bowden 3-pointer put Tennessee back up again, and the Volunteers led 38-37 at the half.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Tennessee |
|
Vanderbilt |
|
Grant Williams 43 |
Scoring |
Aaron Nesmith 24 |
|
Jordan Bone 7 |
Assists |
Saben Lee 7 |
|
Grant Williams 8 |
Rebounds |
Aaron Nesmith 6 |
|
Grant Williams 23 |
Free Throws Made |
Saben Lee 8 |
|
Admiral Schofield 2 |
Steals |
Aaron Nesmith 2 |
|
Grant Williams 4 |
Blocks |
Aaron Nesmith 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Tennessee
|
88 |
46.6 |
5-20 |
29-32 |
16 |
27 |
7 |
5 |
8 |
| Vanderbilt
|
83 |
50.0 |
10-21 |
13-21 |
17 |
27 |
3 |
5 |
15 |
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