KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – In its first official action of the 2026-27 campaign, the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team dominated second-half action in a 90-59 victory Tuesday night over Wofford.
Sophomore forward DeWayne Brown II led the way for No. 8/9 Tennessee (1-0) at Food City Center with a co-game-high 17 points and game-best 17 rebounds, both of which set career bests in his first collegiate double-double.
Aided by 3-pointers from sixth-year guard Tyler Lundblade on consecutive possessions, the Volunteers claimed a 12-6 lead on 5-of-7 shooting after just 4:05. However, Wofford (0-1) soon scored six straight points in 30 seconds to level the score at 12 just 1:46 later.
A 3-point play by junior guard Terrence Hill Jr., preceded a 4:02 scoreless drought for Tennessee amidst a 1-of-9 field-goal stretch, after which the Terriers again tallied a half-dozen points in a row to go up, 18-15, with 8:25 on the timer. Another 3-pointer by Lundblade and a 3-point play from Brown put the home team back in front, 21-18, just 70 ticks later.
Tennessee stretched the margin to six, but Wofford countered with an 8-2 surge to level the score at 27 with 2:51 remaining in the session. The home team, buoyed by a 14-7 cushion in bench points and an 11-2 tally in fast-break points, went on to take a 34-31 edge into the locker room.
Senior center Miles Rubin opened the second-half scoring with a dunk, after which Wofford redshirt junior guard Cam Lowe hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two, but the Volunteers then took over. They went on an 18-2 run over 4:24, capped with 10 straight points in just 2:02, to go ahead by 18 points, 54-36, with 14:44 left.
Tennessee used its third second-half run of at least 8-0 to stretch the margin all the way to two-dozen, 62-38, with 10:50 to go. It held the Terriers without a made field goal for 6:36, forcing 11 consecutive misses.
The Volunteers pushed their advantage to 29, 70-41, with 7:22 on the clock. They took their first 30-point lead with 1:20 to play and went ahead by a game-high 32, 90-58, with 30 seconds left. Wofford scored the last point to make it a 31-point final differential.
Brown shot 7-of-11 from the field, also setting a career high in makes, and 3-of-3 from the line. He added three assists and two blocks, both tying for the game lead and for his second-best totals as a Volunteer. The only other SEC player in the last 15 seasons (2012-27) with at least 17 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in a contest was Auburn’s Johni Broome, who did so twice during his SEC Player of the Year campaign in 2024-25.
Hill also had 17 points and three assists to co-lead all competitors alongside Brown, while his two steals also matched the game high. He went 6-of-7 inside the arc and 5-of-5 at the stripe in his formal Tennessee debut. Lundblade, meanwhile, finished with 12 points on a 4-of-9 clip from beyond the arc, while sophomore guard Troy Henderson scored a career-best 10 points.
Lowe posted 14 points to top the Terriers, but Tennessee limited him to a 5-of-13 ledger from the field. Junior guard Chris Arias and freshman forward Cutter Sisk both had 10 points for the visitors, while redshirt junior center Evan Ramsey chipped in eight points alongside a team-high 10 rebounds.
Tennessee shot 52.3 percent (34-of-65) from the floor in the victory, including a splendid 61.1 percent (22-of-36) in the second half. It also notched an impressive 93.8 percent (15-of-16) figure at the free-throw line.
At the other end, the victors held Wofford to a 30.6 percent (19-of-62) mark from the floor, including a 22.2 percent (6-of-27) ledger beyond the arc. Tennessee also finished with a 52-24 margin in paint points, a 41-24 tally in bench points and a 27-6 count in fast-break points.
The Volunteers retake the Food City Center court Monday at 7 p.m. when they take on Radford, live on SEC Network+.
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 861 victories in his career, still good for second-most among all active Division I head coaches and in the No. 10 spot all-time (min. 10 years in Division I).
• The Volunteers improved to 37-3 (.925) all-time in home openers at Food City Center, dating to its opening in 1987-88, including 34-1 (.971) in their last 35 such contests and 11-1 (.917) under Barnes.
• Excluding the capacity-reduced COVID-19 campaign in 2020-21, Tennessee is now averaging 16,898 fans across 39 home openers at Food City Center, after 18,389 attended Tuesday’s contest.
• Tennessee remained perfect in its series with Wofford, upping its mark to 10-0 against the Terriers, including 8-0 at home.
• Wofford is the fourth school, including the second currently at the Division I level, Tennessee had beat double-digit times without a loss, joining Lincoln Memorial (16-0), Emory & Henry (11-0) and Furman (11-0).
• This is the third time in the last four seasons the Volunteers have played Wofford, after the sides met just four times in the previous 69 years (1954-2023).
• Tennessee moved to 129-18 all-time versus the current SoCon membership, while Barnes increased his mark to 34-1.
• The 34-1 mark against SoCon teams is Barnes’ most wins without a loss versus any conference and it features a 19-1 tally with the Volunteers.
• Eleven players made their first official appearances in a Tennessee uniform: Hill, Lundblade, Rubin, senior guard Dai Dai Ames, freshman guard Marquis Clark, fifth-year forward Christian Fermin, freshman guard Manny Green, sophomore guard Jalen Haralson, junior guard Juke Harris, junior forward Braedan Lue and freshman forward Chris Washington Jr.
• Of those 11 individuals, three made their collegiate debuts: Clark, Green and Washington.
• The Volunteers’ first official points of the 2026-27 season came at the 19:53 mark, after just seven seconds of action, on a layup by Ames.
• Tennessee claimed its 45th consecutive non-conference home win, extending the program record that spans seven seasons and dates to Dec. 8, 2020, in the 2020-21 season opener.
• The last time the Volunteers shot 60 percent in a half was on Jan. 6, 2026, when they registered a 17-of-27 (63.0 percent) line in the first stanza against Texas.
• Tennessee last won by 30-plus points on Dec. 30, 2025, when it claimed a 51-point decision, 105-54, versus South Carolina State.
• The 17 rebounds for Brown, who recorded the first double-double of his career, eclipsed his prior collegiate best of 14, set Dec. 21, 2025, versus Gardner-Webb.
• Brown became just the fifth Volunteer to amass even 15-plus rebounds in the Barnes era, joining Igor Miličić Jr. (18 on Jan. 4, 2025, versus Arkansas); Kyle Alexander (17 on Jan. 8, 2019, at Missouri); Armani Moore (16 on Nov. 22, 2015, versus Gardner-Webb); and Jonas Aidoo (15 on Jan. 13, 2024, at Georgia).
• Those same five players—Brown, Miličić, Alexander, Moore and Aidoo—are also the only Tennessee players with multiple 14-rebound showings for Tennessee during Barnes’ tenure.
• Brown is just the first Volunteer to record 17-plus points and 17-plus rebounds in a game since Jarnell Stokes did so on March 23, 2014, against Mercer in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in Raleigh, N.C.
• The last Tennessee player with a 15-15 game was Zakai Zeigler, who did so with assists, on Dec. 23, 2024, against Middle Tennessee State, finishing with 17 points and 15 assists.
• The last SEC player with at least 17 points and 17 rebounds in a game was Texas A&M’s Rashaun Agee, who achieved the feat on Nov. 28, 2025, versus Florida State, and was the only competitor in the league to do so last season.
• The only other SEC player in the last 15 seasons (2012-27) with at least 17 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in a game is Auburn’s Johni Broome, who hit those marks twice, both on Dec. 14, 2024, against Ohio State in Atlanta and on Nov. 26, 2024, against North Carolina in Maui, Hawaii.
• The seven made field goals by Brown eclipsed the career-high five he recorded thrice during his freshman campaign, most recently on Feb. 18, 2026, against Oklahoma.
• Brown had double-digit points for the sixth time in his career and double-figure rebounds for the third time.
• Tuesday marked the first time Brown has led Tennessee in points, assists and/or minutes in any contest.
• Henderson reached double figures in the scoring column for the first time, as his previous career best was nine points on Dec. 21, 2025, against Gardner-Webb, with that game just one of two in his freshman year during which he scored seven-plus points.
• Henderson, who hit multiple 3-pointers for the fifth time, shot 3-of-5 from the field to tie his career high in makes, matching the tally he logged twice as a freshman, on both Jan. 13, 2026, against Texas A&M and on Dec. 21, 2025, versus Gardner-Webb.
