KNOXVILLE — Tennessee’s men’s basketball team took advantage of what turned out to be as close as a gimme as it would get during the 2019-2020 season.
Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes said that “you never want to take anyone for granted” at his Monday press conference.
The Vols didn’t as they routed a Florida A&M team that saw its futility streak continue as Tennessee nabbed a 72-43 victory over the Rattlers Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee (7-1) got off to a sluggish start and fell behind Florida A&M 3-2 before going on a 14-0 run to pull ahead 16-5.
From there, UT, which had its share of struggles at times as it committed 15 turnovers, went into cruise control and never looked back against the outmatched and road weary Rattlers (0-7), who are in the midst of an 11-game, 73-day road stretch.
Florida A&M hasn’t played at home this season and the Rattlers won’t be at home until Jan. 11.
They’ve played games in Hawaii against the Rainbow Warriors, South Dakota and the University of Pacific.
The Rattlers also played at Seaton Hall, the University of Southern California and Kansas State before making their first-ever trip to Knoxville.
Tennessee exploited its inside edge as John Fulkerson scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds. Yves Pon scored 14 points and pulled down seven boards and Olivier Nkamhoua had a double-double as he had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Guards Josiah-Jordan James and Lamonte Turner each chipped in 10 points.
Moving forward, the Vols and Rattlers will both have extended breaks.
The Vols will host Memphis on Saturday, Dec. 14 while FAMU has road dates at Portland (Dec. 16), Washington State (Dec. 19) and Seattle (Dec. 21) before heading to Iowa State on New Year’s Eve.