The Vols advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Olivier Nkamhoua scored 27 points for the Vols against Duke. He scored 23 points in the second half.
Nkamhoua discussed Tennessee ending the first-half with 27-21 lead.
“I think it was big,” he said. “Whenever you go through those droughts, I think the good thing for us as a team is the fact that we rely on our defense more than anything else, so we can just keep playing defense and keep being the same tough hard-nosed team. To have that kind of boost at the end of the half going into the locker room, it brings a lot of energy, good momentum, and just gives you that confidence coming in the second half.
“Then at the same time, whether or not we’re coming in the locker room with that momentum or without, because of our defensive mentality, I feel like we’re always going to be ready to play, and we don’t necessarily need like a motivation boost like that, but for any team it’s always good to have that going into a half.”
Nkamhoua also discussed scoring 23 points in the second-half.
“Well, in the locker room, my guys saw me, I was a little bit antsy because I didn’t get to play in the first half, so I just came in ready to play,” he said. “I had fresh legs. I feel like that gave me a little bit of extra edge. I was probably the only guy on the floor with fresh legs.”
