By Aidan Corley
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The last time out, Florida punched Tennessee in the mouth as the Vols shot themselves in the foot on the way down. Tuesday night was all about the response to the latest setback in what’s been a bumpy couple of months for Tennessee. The Vols showed guts and character in an 87-82 double overtime victory that never seemed to end in Food City Center.
Jaylen Carey muscled off a swarm of Aggie defenders and laid in a basket to beat the shot clock to give the Vols their largest lead of the game at the time, four, in double overtime. Carey hit some clutch free throws in the closing seconds to put the game, and the rest of Food City Center, to bed. Tennessee (12-5, 2-2 SEC) handed Texas A&M (13-4, 3-1 SEC) its first conference loss of the season in dramatic fashion.
“Really proud of the guys, just their grit,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “They stayed together, they kept just finding a way. You know it’s not going to be the prettiest game, and we haven’t played against a style like that all year, and we found a way.”
Nate Ament led all scorers with 23 points, while Ja’Kobi Gillespie did it all, finishing with 18 points, five assists, and six steals. Bishop Boswell, 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Felix Okpara, 10 points and 12 rebounds, both posted double-doubles, while Carey added 9 points and 10 boards off the bench.
Ament’s game was a microcosm of Tennessee’s recent turbulence and ultimate fight that was shown to come out on top Tuesday night.
Texas A&M’s head coach Bucky McMillan’s infamous high octane “Bucky Ball” proved to be a tough test for Ament and the rest of the Vols. Ament was forced into a five second violation in the opening jabs of the game, followed by Troy Henderson suffering the same fate, and Ament once more in the second half.
Ament then showed his clutch gene and the game got down to crunch time, scoring six points down the stretch all on tough baskets paired with a potentially game saving block on the other end. Ament accredited his late surge to his teammates’ confidence in him.
“All of them are telling me to take over this game, and they know I’m capable of doing that,” Ament said. “To have your teammates believe in you so much it does so much for your confidence.”
And take over he did, Ament had the green light in overtime scoring 10 of Tennessee’s 16 points in the bonus period. Ament overcame a rough start to the game and showed flashes of why he is Tennessee’s highest ever ranked recruit.
“You have no idea how hard he works, how good a kid he is,” Barnes said. “He was better tonight, really playing to drive… trying to get to his spots.”
Troy Henderson stepped up as an unlikely source from the bench with eight points and a season high 22 minutes of action. After not seeing the court in the loss at Arkansas, the freshman has begun to carve a role out for himself seeing increased time in every game since. Henderson played a crucial role in Tuesday night’s win, prominently featuring in the lineup that closed the game. Barnes’ nurturing of freshmen now has Henderson as the latest to blossom.
“We told all these guys to take care of the ball, play defense, get lost in the game that way,” Barnes said. “Let your offense come, just do what we practice.”
Henderson nailed a corner three and shortly after climbed the ladder for a tough finish at the rim to give home five points in quick succession in the second half when the Vols really needed it. His biggest moment came with 1:25 left in regulation, hitting a clutch three to give the Vols a one point and sending the crowd into jubilation.
“I just really wanted to win,” Henderson said. “When I hit that shot, I was just thinking, next play, we gotta get a stop on defense.”
Tennessee will be back in action at Food Center City this Saturday as the Vols play host to old-time rival Kentucky (10-6, 1-2) at noon ET on ESPN.