Kansas Jayhawks jumped up and down and patted each other on the back as if they had won the big game.
I thought Tennessee lost it.
The Volunteer, up by 12 in the second half, seemed to run out of gas. There were clues – a 2-for-15 shooting streak and fouls instead of defensive stops.
Kansas was the beneficiary, 81-76, for third place in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Tennessee’s first setback after seven victories was expensive – $100,000 less than it could have had in NIL loot.
Rick Barnes saw what I saw but described it better.
“When we were up, Kansas kept playing and we didn’t do the things that got us up. We didn’t do it on the offensive end or defensive end. They obviously started driving the ball and we fouled too much.”
The coach said there were too many scouting report breakdowns, “things we had talked about.”
Barnes said Kansas deserved to win.
“At the end they got done what they needed to get done and we didn’t.”
Nate Ament #10 arrives for the November 26, 2025 game versus the Kansas Jayhawks.
Tennessee finished the first half on a 12-4 run for a 41-34 lead at the rest stop. Freshman Nate Ament, off-target against Houston, scored 14 on 5-of-8 shooting. He had six rebounds in the first half.
Jaylen Carey had a strong finish to that segment. He shocked all concerned with a steal, break-away and powerful slam dunk that probably shook MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie was not part of show business. His shots were not going in.
Tennessee opened the second half in an orderly fashion. Bishop Boswell hit a three-pointer for a 53-41 lead with 15:49 remaining. I made a note that the Vols were the better team.
Kansas coach Bill Self said the game was about to get away from the Jayhawks at that point.
“But we just kept defending and rebounding. It’s a big deal for us to out-rebound that team, even though it was only by one. I thought we did a great job with the physicality-type plays.”
Tennessee shot 31.3 percent in the second half. Kansas shot 53.8. The Vols looked half a step slow. The Jayhawks were more aggressive.
Ament went 0-for-7 after intermission. He finished with 20 points because he hit all eight free throws. He had nine rebounds.
Gillespie shot down the Vols instead of the Jayhawks. He was 1-for-10 on three-point tries. Carey had a double-double, 11 points and 10 rebounds. J.P. Estrella scored 10 points and missed only one shot. For some strange reason, he got only one rebound.
Kansas stopped an assortment of Tennessee’s set plays – or the Vols didn’t run them correctly. Barnes said if they hadn’t settled for outside shots, they could have gotten into the lane.
“Too many guys honestly didn’t do the things that they need to do to help us win.”
Barnes didn’t complain about fouls and free throws anywhere near as much as Houston coach Kelvin Sampson did the night before but he noted the numbers. Kansas made 26 of 30. Tennessee was 17-of-22.
“We know that we’ve got a chance to be a really good basketball team – and play with any teams in the country.”
Short summation?
“Second half. I thought they out-competed us when it counted. And that’s the hardest thing to take, when they’re doing things that we could have done.”
One more thought: “I don’t want to take anything from Kansas.”
Next: Tennessee plays at Syracuse on Tuesday. Syracuse lost to Kansas, Houston and Iowa State in the Vegas event.
In my opinion Coach Barnes owns this loss as much as the players. Gillespie and Amen were both gassed in the final stages because Barnes refused to give them a break hence their shooting legs were gone.
A loss this early in the season will, hopefully, permit Coach Barnes to have the team listen closely and respond to his message of intensity from jump ball to final whistle. He has a very young squad that will need this guidance down the road.
I was afraid the Houston game might have taken the starch out of the Vols. I was right.
When Marvin thought the Vols were “the better team,” the Jay Hawks begged to differ. They swooped down and made off with every Smokey they could find. Our shots didn’t fall, but many were contested. We were just hustled out of third place. i guess that makes us top of the bottom fourteen in our class.