In an ultra-competitive Southeastern Conference, coach Rick Barnes’ squad set a high bar last season for the current crop of Volunteers to match.
A 30-win season ended in the Elite Eight in March and the Volunteers finished No. 5 in the final AP Top 25 poll, which remarkably had four SEC programs inside the top six. National champion Florida, of course, was No. 1.
Tennessee set a program record by knocking off 10 schools ranked in the Top 25 and spent five weeks at No. 1.
To set the tone for the season and get a good glimpse of where the team stands, Tennessee hosted No. 6 Duke in an exhibition game Sunday.
With Tennessee holding a six-point halftime lead, Duke rallied and won 83-76 in front of a sellout crowd of 21,678.
A key difference in the game was at the foul line: The Blue Devils made 25 of 27 free throws (92.6 percent), while Tennessee was 10 of 14 (71.4 percent).
Barnes said newcomer Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who led his team with 19 points and eight assists against Duke, has exceeded expectations.
The 6-foot-1 guard started at Belmont, transferred to Maryland, and has returned to play in his home state.
“Ja’Kobi is a terrific player, obviously,” said Barnes, whose 836 victories top active Division I coaches and rank ninth all-time. “Going to Belmont, where he was extremely well coached. Maryland, really well coached. Going in from Belmont there to becoming an All-Big 10 player, I think, speaks volumes about him, personally, to his commitment, his work ethic. Since being here, he has given us more than we probably would expect.”
Barnes said Gillespie and senior forward Felix Okpara (7.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, and 58.9 percent from the field last season) have put in the most reps.
Freshman Nate Ament, a 6-foot-10, five-star prospect from Manassas, Va., scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds in 33 minutes against Duke.
Second-year Mercer head coach Ryan Ridder watched his club go 14-19 last season and 6-12 in the Southern Conference, but the Bears advanced to the second round of the SoCon tournament and lost to top-seeded University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The Bears might be primed to emerge from hibernation. But to get there Mercer has to replace guard Ahmad Robinson. Robinson averaged 16.9 points, 5.0 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game last season before landing at UAB. He also averaged 4.0 turnovers per game and had nine in the season-ending SoCon tournament loss.
Ridder said the offseason focus was toughness and togetherness.
Not much tests a team like hitting the road against a highly ranked opponent.
“We are light years ahead compared to last year’s team,” assistant coach Reed Ridder, Ryan Ridder’s younger brother, told The Mercer Cluster.
The staff lengthened the frontcourt in the offseason by adding 6-foot-10 international transfer Pero Zubac and 6-foot-10 Central Michigan junior transfer Armani Mighty, who started his career at Boston College.
“We have a top group of guys, but I think we are expecting big things from Mighty,” said Reed Ridder, the younger brother of the head coach. “We think our guys are ready for that challenge. We are playing one of the best teams in the country.”
