Jonas Aidoo dominated with an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double and No. 5 Tennessee rolled to an 86-51 SEC victory over Texas A&M on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd in Knoxville, Tenn.
It’s the 800th career win for head coach Rick Barnes, who joins Kentucky’s John Calipari and Dave Holmquist of Division III Biola as the only other active coaches with as many wins.
Dalton Knecht helped make it possible with a game-high 24 points while Tobe Awaka added 12 as Tennessee (21-6, 11-3 SEC) won its fourth consecutive game, avenging an 85-69 loss to A&M two weeks ago and moving into a first-place tie with Alabama.
The Aggies (15-12, 6-8) dropped their fourth in a row despite double-digit efforts from Wade Taylor IV (11), Tyrece Radford (11) and Jace Carter (10).
Henry Coleman III came into the night needing 10 to hit the 1,000-point milestone but managed only nine.
Aidoo dunked to give the Vols a 47-32 lead less than three minutes into the second half. Knecht and Santiago Vescovi hit 3-pointers earlier in the half as Tennessee dented any remaining hopes A&M had of stealing a huge road win.
Tennessee’s lead hit 20 points when Zakai Zeigler dished his 11th assist of the night to Jamal Mashack for a 59-39 cushion. Zeigler finished with 14 assists, no turnovers and nine points.
The game was much closer early.
Taylor scored the first nine points of the game for the Aggies, all from beyond the arc, and Solomon Washington threw down a dunk to tie the score at 13-13 with 12:59 left in the first half.
Josiah Jordan-James hit a jumper near the free-throw line with 4:08 left in the half, breaking a 24-24 tie, and the Vols never looked back.
Aidoo made his presence felt near the basket, throwing down a dunk off a missed layup to push the lead to 28-24 at the 2:44 mark and then tossing in an alley-oop for a 32-27 lead with just over a minute to play. He was 9-for-14 from the floor and blocked three shots.
Those baskets were part of a 13-3 run, punctuated by Vescovi’s 3-pointer in the corner in the final seconds for a 37-27 advantage.
–Field Level Media