Xavier drops 59 second-half points to beat Tennessee

The Vols were up 35-27 at the break and led by 10 early after it. Xavier then scored 59 in the half to Tennessee’s 35, according to the school’s recap.

The box score shows Xavier shooting 49.2 percent from the field and 37 percent from three. Tennessee shot 38.6 percent overall and just 15.4 percent from deep. The Musketeers also won the glass 45-31.

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Turnovers were close, 17 for Xavier and 14 for the Vols, so the gap came from shot-making and rebounding rather than sloppiness.

Tennessee’s own recap said Xavier’s “scorching shooting down the stretch” was what pulled the game away. The school said more details would follow.

Fueled by a 59-point second-half explosion, Xavier blew past Tennessee for an 86-70 exhibition victory at Food City Center on Thursday.Camden Hall / Getty Images

Terrence Hill Jr. was the steady hand

The junior guard scored 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and 16 of those came in the first 21 minutes. Juke Harris added 15 on five field goals and five free throws. Jalen Haralson had 10, and Dai Dai Ames had six.

Harris is the preseason headliner here. The league’s media voted Tennessee fourth and named him first-team All-SEC on Monday. Thursday’s game showed him getting to the line more than the arc.

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The three-point number is the one to watch

Fifteen percent from deep is ugly, but context matters. Exhibitions are for testing lineups and playing through mistakes, and coaches often use them to try combinations they’d never run in a close November game.

Still, a team that leans on spacing needs shooters who can punish defenses that sag off. Tennessee will want that fixed before the real schedule begins.

Duke is next, and it will say more.

The Vols travel to Duke for another exhibition on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. It’s a more demanding opponent than Thursday’s, and it comes with a clear question: whether Tennessee can hold a lead in the second half.

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Last night it couldn’t, and a loss that lopsided in an exhibition is hard to shrug…

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Publish date : 2026-10-16 21:03:00

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