Tennessee walked into Cameron Indoor Stadium needing something better than the mess it showed in last week’s exhibition against Xavier. Instead, the Vols got another ugly night, dropping a 103-64 decision to Duke on Tuesday.
That score told the story in a hurry, but the details were even rougher for Tennessee. The Vols lost Terrence Hill Jr. early, never found much resistance defensively and still didn’t get the kind of scoring punch they’ll need from Juke Harris.
Hill’s night ended with 15:23 left in the first half when he went down with a left ankle injury. By then, Tennessee was already chasing after Duke had ripped off a 12-2 start behind what became a 10-0 run. That burst stretched to 15 straight points before the Vols could even slow things down.
The injury forced Tennessee to scramble for ball-handling help. Troy Henderson was first up, and he gave the Vols some production before leaving with an injury of his own that limited him the rest of the way. In 15 minutes, he scored 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting and 2-for-4 from three, and he also dished out an assist.
Dai Dai Ames handled a bigger load too, especially with Hill sidelined and Henderson banged up. He finished with a team-high 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting and added two rebounds in 32 minutes. Freshman Marquis Clark also picked up point guard minutes, logging 12 minutes, seven points and two rebounds.
Even with the score getting out of hand, Hill’s absence mattered. Tennessee has bigger goals than these exhibitions, but that path gets a lot harder if its best preseason player can’t stay on the floor. Ames at least showed he can fill it up when called on, which was one of the few positives for the Vols.
The bigger problem was at the other end. Rick Barnes was frustrated by Tennessee’s defense in the loss to Xavier, especially the way the team handled ball screens.
That issue didn’t disappear against Duke. The same breakdowns kept showing up, including confusion over whether to switch or fight through screens, and Duke kept finding clean looks.
The Blue Devils made Tennessee pay for it. Duke shot 53% from the field, hit 36.4% of its threes and went 19-for-21 at the line while piling up 103 points.
It’s fair to note Duke’s offense looks elite and may be the best in the country. But if Tennessee wants to play at the level it has in mind, it has to be able to guard a team like this.
Right now, that hasn’t been there. And if the shots aren’t falling on the other end, that becomes a fast track to a lot of losses.
Harris is another piece Tennessee needs more from. In the first exhibition against Xavier, he found spots but couldn’t get his shot to drop, finishing with 15 points on 5-for-14 shooting and 0-for-7 from three.
Against Duke, he had an even harder time getting clean chances, though Tennessee kept trying to feature him. He ended with 10 points on 2-for-10 shooting from the field and 1-for-4 from three, plus two assists.
He also didn’t give Tennessee anything on the glass. After averaging 6.5 rebounds per game with Wake Forest last season, Harris didn’t record one against Duke. The 45-29 rebounding margin fit the lopsided score, but more from Harris there could have helped tighten things up.
There’s still time for Tennessee to sort some of this out. The schedule ahead gives the Vols a runway, with Wofford, Radford and Tennessee State before the first real test against Michigan State.
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