Aidoo leads No. 10 Tennessee past Georgia Southern

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jonas Aidoo had 29 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 10 Tennessee beat Southern 74-56 on Tuesday night.

The winless Eagles (0-10) had no answer for the 6-foot-11 Aidoo, who also had two steals and two blocks. Aidoo was the only double-digit scorer for the Volunteers (7-3).

After trailing by as many as 28 points shortly after halftime, Georgia Southern cut the difference to 13 with a 10-point spurt midway through the second half. Derrick Harris came off the bench to score all but two of his 13 points in the second half for the Eagles.

Aidoo scored the first 10 points of the game and had 21 by halftime as the Vols led 49-21.

THE TAKEAWAY

Georgia Southern: A brutal pre-Sun Belt Conference schedule should have the Eagles ready to compete. Georgia Southern had an exhibition against Georgia Tech and a regular-season meeting with Michigan State before it ventured to Knoxville to play No. 10 Tennessee. The Eagles shouldn’t see any teams of that caliber the rest of the way.

Tennessee: This mismatch allowed coach Rick Barnes to get several young players into the game. The Vols used 12 players after only eight saw playing time in their previous game, a win over then-No. 20 Illinois. Barnes would like to have confidence in more players to contribute, and finding offense from others besides Dalton Knecht is an objective as the season goes on. Knecht finished with seven points on 2-of-7 shooting Tuesday night.

UP NEXT

Georgia Southern: The Eagles will go after win No. 1 at home Saturday against UNC Wilmington.

Tennessee: The Vols will be part of 2023 Hall of Fame Series. They face North Carolina State at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Saturday night.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball