NEW YORK, N.Y. – Plagued by a cold shooting performance, No. 13 Tennessee fell to Texas Tech in overtime Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, 57-52.
Despite holding Texas Tech (7-1) to 19-for-61 (.311) shooting, Tennessee (6-2) shot just 19-for-71 (.268) from the field for the game, including 6-for-40 (.150) from 3-point range.
John Fulkerson led the Vols in scoring with 10 points, also adding 10 rebounds and five blocks. Kennedy Chandler, Santiago Vescovi and Zakai Zeigler had nine points apiece.
Trailing 44-41 with just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation, Josiah-Jordan James hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to send the game to overtime.
In the overtime period, the Red Raiders outscored the Vols, 13-8.
After Zeigler made a layup to cut Texas Tech’s lead to 38-35 with 11:50 remaining in the second half, the two teams combined to score just four total points through the 4:12 mark—with zero made field goals. In total, 8:12 of game time elapsed between Zeigler’s layup and the next made field goal—a dunk by Bryson Williams that gave Texas Tech a 41-38 lead.
Tennessee tied the game at 41 and snapped its cold stretch from the field with a 3-pointer from Vescovi at the 1:55 mark. Prior to Vescovi’s make, the Vols were 0-for-16 from 3-point range in the second half.
Following Vescovi’s three, Texas Tech added a pair of free throws from Kevin McCullar with 1:26 left and then one more on a 1-for-2 performance at the line from Terrence Shannon with 37 seconds remaining. Tennessee then sent the game to overtime on James’ 3-pointer.
For more than 16 minutes of the back-and-forth first half, neither team led by more than five points—until a fast break and-one layup by Shannon kickstarted a 10-1 Texas Tech run that gave the Red Raiders a 28-20 lead.
After Tennessee entered the halftime break trailing by four at 29-25, Texas Tech scored a quick five points to open the second half to extend its lead to 34-25.
Facing its largest deficit of the game, Tennessee responded with a 6-0 run to cut the TTU lead back down to three at 34-31.
UP NEXT: Tennessee returns to Thompson-Boling Arena for the first of two consecutive home games on Saturday against UNC Greensboro. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
-UT Athletics
