Turnovers add up as Tennessee falls to Syracuse, 62-60

Tennessee has fallen to Syracuse on the road tonight, losing a fist fight of a game, 62-60. The Volunteers were simply trying to hang with the Orange all night long, and failed to capitalize on chances to win late.

It was a painfully slow start for both sides offensively. Nothing was going down in the opening handful of minutes as Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Felix Okpara and Nate Ament all came up empty. However, an emerging force took care of Tennessee to really open up the scoring.

Jaylen Carey, who really broke out in Las Vegas, paced the Vols with ten of Tennessee’s first 15 points. Syracuse had no answers for him down low, and Carey took advantage in the post.

The problem for Tennessee was Nate Kingz, who poured in 19 first half points. Kingz was 6-10 from the field and 5-6 from the free throw stripe.

It was apparent early that foul trouble would be a story of this game. Tennessee, playing without J.P. Estrella, found a few key players with two quick fouls. Gillespie, Boswell, Carey and Ament each picked up two in the first half, forcing freshmen DeWayne Brown, Troy Henderson and Amari Evans into action.

Tennessee trailed at halftime, thanks to a lazy defensive effort and a putback at the buzzer by the Orange. The Volunteers were shooting 41 percent from the field, 3-9 from three and narrowly winning the rebounding battle 20-19 at the break. Nine first half turnovers were a major black eye on the stat sheet, however.

A couple of turnovers would turn into a couple of dunks for Syracuse to open the second half. Sloppy, chaotic play from the Volunteers wasn’t cutting it, and the Orange grew their lead out to 40-36 in the opening four minutes. Syracuse’s William Kyle was suddenly dominating the paint on both ends of the floor, coming away with block after block as Tennessee tried to force the ball to the rim.

It was Brown and Carey stopping the bleeding for Tennessee, but the Vols needed to find some answers on the defensive end. Syracuse could not miss, but Tennessee was hanging around. The Orange held a 50-43 lead at the under 12 break.

Tennessee was on the attack after that. Attacking the paint, Jaylen Carey and Nate Ament continued to get to the foul line. Tennessee finally started hitting from the stripe, inching back into this one. Carey would cut the lead down to 50-49 with 9:37 to play.

Gillespie would give the Volunteers the lead shortly after. Six Syracuse turnovers in five minutes created the drought, and Tennessee capitalized to claw back into this game.

In what became a very physical paint game, it was Nate Ament drilling a corner three to give Tennessee a 56-55 lead with just four minutes to play. JJ Starling would answer right back for Syracuse, then Nate Ament would be called for a charge. It was Starling again for the Orange, which suddenly had built a four-point lead.

Felix Okpara had a chance to cut the lead down to two, but missed the front end.

Syracuse would get called for an illegal screen with under two to play, and Carey immediately took advantage. The Vols got a stop at the other end, then Bishop Boswell made a spinning layup to tie the game at 60 with 38 seconds to play.

William Kyle went to the basket and drew a foul, but would only hit one of two from the stripe. Tennessee, down one, brought the ball up with 13 seconds left. Rick Barnes called a timeout to set up his play with 9.6 to play.

Gillespie would get the ball and sneak down the baseline to find Carey, who had a good look, but just missed it. Syracuse would hit one of two free throws at the other end, and Tennessee couldn’t connect on their prayer with 0.5 seconds remaining. Nate Ament ended up with a good look in the paint, but was too strong with it.

Final score: Syracuse 62, Tennessee 60

Tennessee falls to 7-2 on the season. It was another 17 turnover night from Tennessee after cleaning things up during last week’s Players Era Festival. The aggression of Syracuse really affected the Vols, particularly Nate Ament, who had his worst outing of the season. Ament had seven turnovers alone and shot 2-10 from the field.

Jaylen Carey was perhaps the only bright spot — heck — he was the only thing Tennessee had going tonight. He ended with 22 points in 23 minutes, adding nine rebounds.

This was game where Tennessee could have used Estrella badly. It became a paint fist fight, and it was Carey and Brown’s war to wage alone.

The Vols will be kicking themselves over an 8-15 mark from the free throw line.

Tennessee moves on to face Illinois on Saturday night in Nashville.