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| (AP Photo/Wade Payne) |
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Wayne Chism was not about to let another team dominate the boards in front of him.
Chism’s career-high 18 rebounds — 11 on defense — were the most by any Tennessee player since 1996, and his season-high 18 points led No. 6 Tennessee to an 80-60 win over No. 16 Vanderbilt on Saturday night.
“I think Chism had more rebounds tonight than he did during the entire month of December,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. Chism had 18 total last month.
Tennessee (15-1, 3-0 SEC) grabbed 43 rebounds and scored 30 points off 22 turnovers, quieting one of the SEC’s best shooting teams.
“We’ve been getting killed on the boards,” Chism said. “I’m carrying the load for our big men inside trying to rebound.”
Vanderbilt (16-2, 1-2) entered the game averaging 86 points per game, second only to Tennessee’s 86.7. They also were averaging 9.29 3-pointers a game, just behind Tennessee’s 9.73.
But the Commodores, who have dropped two straight after a 16-0 start, completed only 3 of their 21 attempts from behind the arc while the Volunteers went 8-for-22 on 3s.
Vanderbilt’s 36.8 percent on field goals and 14.3 percent from behind the arc were its worst of the season.
“That was not a lot of fun,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “We had some opportunities to make it interesting, but each time we missed the shot.”
Tennessee went on a 17-6 run to open the second half, ending with a 3-pointer by Chris Lofton to put the Vols up 59-38 with 11:24 left.
Vanderbilt responded with a 15-2 run that ended with Shan Foster’s 3 to narrow the gap to 61-53.
But Tyler Smith grabbed a steal and went in for a dunk, and the Vols scored the next three points to stretch the lead to 13. Vanderbilt would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Vanderbilt led 12-11 9 minutes into the first half, but a Tyler Smith layup launched a 20-6 run by the Vols that ended with back-to-back 3s by Ryan Childress and Chism to put Tennessee up 33-18 with 3:57 in the half.
Tyler Smith and JaJuan Smith both finished with 14 points and Chris Lofton added 11.
Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster sank 14 points and grabbed six rebounds, A.J. Ogilvy had 12 points and Darshawn McClellan also had six rebounds. Foster and Ogilvy are two of the SEC’s top three scorers, averaging 20.6 and 19.4 a game.
Stallings said Ogilvy, a freshman who was dominate at center during the Commodores 16-0 run to start the season, struggled to overcome a first half during which he only scored 2 points.
“You can’t come to this place with their team and only play a half and win,” Stallings said. “He’s a freshman, I think we forget that.”
