Tennessee overcomes halftime deficit to defeat Georgia in OT
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Rick Barnes and Tennessee endured through a rocky start to SEC play and now appear to be hitting their stride at the right time.
On Wednesday, the Volunteers walked into Athens and overcame a 6-point halftime deficit to eventually claim a lead for much of the latter stages of the second half.
As Mike White’s squad has done all season, Georgia rallied late to force overtime at 74 apiece, but the home side ultimately ran out of gas in a 86-85 defeat.
The Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game in the closing moments, but junior guard Marcus Millender opted to shoot a layup while trailing by 3 points.
Tennessee earned its second straight road victory in large part thanks to its efforts on the glass. The Vols out-rebounded the Bulldogs 52-27 and pulled in 26 offensive rebounds, but a dozen turnovers and 10 missed free throws allowed the home side to hang around.
Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie led UT with 21 points to go along with 6 assists, freshman Nate Ament tacked on 19 and sophomore forward JP Estrella added 17, tied for the second-most points he’s scored in a game this season.
Georgia was led by 22 points from sophomore Kanon Catchings, while Millender poured in 19 as well.
Barnes & Co. will return home to welcome Auburn to Knoxville at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, while Georgia will host Texas A&M at 1 p.m.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
