University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
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North Florida
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#20/18 Vols Register 99-66 Victory over North Florida
November 12, 2025 | Men's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men's basketball team defeated North Florida, 99-66, Wednesday night at Food City Center.
Redshirt sophomore forward J.P. Estrella paced all scorers with a career-high 23 points and game-best 10 rebounds for No. 20/18 Tennessee (3-0) in the victory.
After conceding seven of the opening 10 points, the Volunteers went on a 9-0 run in just 96 seconds to go ahead, 12-7, with 15:13 on the first-half timer. However, North Florida (0-2) bounced back and regained a 19-18 advantage just 5:09 later.
Tennessee soon took back full control, ending the frame on a 15-0 run, with the first 11 points coming in just 1:56 of action. It held the Ospreys scoreless for the final 6:13 of the session, forcing six consecutive misses. The strong close to the half gave the home team a commanding 47-30 edge at the intermission, with Estrella notching 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
The Volunteers got dunks from freshman forward Nate Ament and junior forward Cade Phillips to open the second half, extending their run to 19-0 across 7:24 to go ahead by 21, 51-30. North Florida finally snapped a 7:53 drought—it featured seven straight missed field goals—with 18:20 to play.
Tennessee continued to stretch its advantage, using separate 7-0 and 11-0 surges to eventually earn a 32-point lead, 86-54, with 5:32 remaining. The margin reached 34 before a free throw in the closing seconds made it a 33-point final. It marked the team's second win by over 30 in the last five days.
Estrella, who had a career-best point total for the third consecutive outing to open the season, shot 11-of-14 from the field. A co-career-high six of his rebounds came on the offensive end, while he added an assist and a block to his final line.
Senior guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie gave Tennessee, for the first time since February 2021, two 20-point scorers for the second outing in a row—he was part of both pairs—as he posted 21. The Greeneville, Tenn., native, who shot 4-of-10 from beyond the arc, added a game-best seven assists and two steals.
Ament stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block, becoming the fifth SEC freshman—seventh occurrence—to tally that line in the last 20 seasons (2006-26). Phillips and senior guard Amaree Abram each scored nine points, with the former grabbing a co-career-best nine rebounds and the latter logging a team-best three steals.
Sophomore guard Kent Jackson led the Ospreys with 16 points and five assists. Graduate guard Devin Hines and senior guard Kamrin Oriol notched 11 points apiece, but Tennessee held the duo to a combined 8-of-29 field-goal clip.
The Volunteers pulled down 52 rebounds, their second time reaching that mark in the first three contests of the season, and had a plus-28 margin on the glass. Twenty of those boards came on the offensive end, leading to a 27-13 margin in second-chance points.
In addition, the victors had a 44-15 edge in bench points, a 54-28 tally in paint points and a 23-11 cushion in points of turnovers.
Tennessee returns to the hardwood Monday at 8:30 p.m. for a matchup with Rice, live on SEC Network from Food City Center. The Owls are coached by Rob Lanier, who was an assistant for the Volunteers from 2015-19.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men's basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES
• Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes now owns 839 victories in his career, remaining in sole possession of first place among all active Division I head coaches and in ninth place all-time (min. 10 years in Division I).
• Wednesday marked the first meeting between the Volunteers and Ospreys, with North Florida the second of three opponents on Tennessee's schedule it has never played before.
• In each of their last two games, the Volunteers have defeated an opponent they have never previously played, as they topped Northern Kentucky just four days ago.
• As announced prior to tip-off, sophomore guard Bishop Boswell, who started each of the first two games, did not play due to a right foot injury sustained Saturday against Northern Kentucky.
• Tennessee has now won 39 straight non-conference home games, a streak that dates to Dec. 8, 2020, and spans six seasons.
• The Volunteers' 39 consecutive non-conference home victories now stand solely as the second-longest streak in program history, per Elias Sports Bureau, eclipsing a 38-game ledger set from Dec. 15, 1996, to Dec. 17, 2001.
• After using just two starting lineups the entire 2024-25 season—one of them for 37 of 38 games—the Volunteers have now exceeded that total through just three outings in 2025-26.
• Tennessee now has 37 wins by 30-plus points in Barnes' 11-year tenure (2015-26), including 32 by at least 33 points.
• The Volunteers last won by 30-plus points in back-to-back games on Nov. 13 and Nov. 17, 2024, when they logged a 92-57 victory over Montana and a 103-68 triumph versus Austin Peay, respectively.
• The 99 points for Tennessee marked its eighth-most under Barnes and its highest total since finishing with 103 on Nov. 17, 2024, against Austin Peay.
• By recording 24 assists Saturday against Northern Kentucky and then 26 versus the Ospreys, Tennessee logged 20-plus in back-to-back games for the first time since the last two games of the 2024-25 regular season when it had 23 on March 5, 2025, at Ole Miss and then 22 three days later against South Carolina.
• The last time the Volunteers amassed 25-plus assists in a contest was on Feb. 17, 2024, when they totaled 28 against Vanderbilt.
• Tennessee has pulled down at least 47 total rebounds and at least 15 offensive rebounds in all three contests this season, averaging 51.0 and 17.3, respectively, thus far.
• The last time Tennessee grabbed 20 offensive rebounds in a contest was on Jan. 4, 2025, when it finished with 24 versus Arkansas.
• Wednesday marked the 16th time in Barnes' 11-year tenure (2015-26) that three of his players scored at least 17 points in a game, with Ament, Estrella and Gillespie combining to do it for the second game in a row.
• Over Barnes' first 10 seasons, the 17-point trio occurred a total of 14 times, with half of them taking place in 2018-19.
• Tennessee had three 19-point scorers for the third time in the Barnes era, joining a Jan. 29, 2019, matchup with South Carolina (Admiral Schofield [24], Grant Williams [23], Jordan Bone [19]) and a Nov. 19, 2015, contest versus Marshall (Armani Moore [20], Robert Hubbs III [19], Kevin Punter Jr. [19]), the latter of which was Barnes' third game at the helm.
• The last time Tennessee had two 20-point scorers in back-to-back games was Feb. 24 and 27, 2021, respectively at Vanderbilt (Victor Bailey Jr. [21], Jaden Springer [20]) and at Auburn (Keon Johnson [23], Jaden Springer [20]).
• The Volunteers have had multiple players with five-plus assists in each of their first three games after achieving the feat four total times across 38 outings in 2024-25.
• Sophomore guard Ethan Burg, in just his third official game as a collegian, recorded his first start as a Volunteer.
• Phillips' nine rebounds matched the career high he registered in a Nov. 17, 2024, matchup with Austin Peay.
• Estrella has scored at least a dozen points in the first three games of the season after never eclipsing eight previously.
• Estrella has grabbed eight-plus rebounds in back-to-back contests after never surpassing five before this stretch.
• Over the last 20 seasons (2006-26), Estrella is one of just three Volunteers to make 11-plus field goals on fewer than 15 attempts, joining Igor Miličić Jr. (11-of-14 on Nov. 17, 2024, against Austin Peay) and Jonas Aidoo (11-of-14 on Feb. 14, 2024, at Arkansas).• Estrella is one of just four individuals—five instances—in the SEC over the last six seasons (2020-26) to hit 11-plus field goals on fewer than 15 attempts while posting double-digit rebounds, alongside Tennessee's Jonas Aidoo (Feb. 14, 2024, at Arkansas); Mississippi State's Tolu Smith III (Jan. 28, 2023, against TCU); Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe (Nov. 16, 2021, against Mount St. Mary's); and Smith again (Jan. 16, 2021, against Florida).
• In each of the last two games, Estrella has pulled down six offensive rebounds—his prior career high was four in the Nov. 3 season opener against Mercer—after Tennessee had a player reach that mark five total times in 2024-25.
• Ament is just the fifth SEC freshman—seventh occurrence—in the last 20 seasons (2006-26) to produce 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block in a single contest, joining LSU's Ben Simmons (three times in 2015-16); Kentucky's James Young (Jan. 8, 2014, against Mississippi State); Kentucky's Archie Goodwin (Nov. 23, 2012, against LIU); and Kentucky's John Wall (March 27, 2010, against West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament in Syracuse, N.Y.).
• In addition, Ament is one of just two Volunteers over that two-decade span to record that line, joining Igor Miličić Jr., who did so on Feb. 5, 2025, against Missouri.
