No. 12 Tennessee (1-0) defeated Gardner-Webb (0-1), 80-64, on Monday at Food City Center to open its 2024-25 basketball season. Rankings reflect the preseason USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll.
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes recapped the Vols’ win after the game.
“First, it was a really good opener for us,” Barnes said. “It’s an extremely, extremely well coached team, and we knew that coming in. They were going to do what we thought, and they do it well.
“They adjusted at the end where they were just driving, putting their bodies on us, taking us down low. Defensively, I thought we were okay for the most part, other than what we gave them, turnovers and second-chance points. I say gave them, they went and took it and made good with it, but the fact that they showed different defenses was great for us. I thought for the most part, our guys handled that okay, other than the last five minutes. I mean, the last five minutes, I didn’t think we were very good, with too many guys that weren’t aware of the clock and the situation. I don’t care what the score is, we’re playing the game the right way. We didn’t do that very well in the last five minutes, the way we needed to.”
