Kennedy Chandler scored 29 points Saturday afternoon to lead the No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers to a 69-54 victory over the host Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder, Colo.
Santiago Vescovi scored 13 and John Fulkerson added 10 points for Tennessee (6-1).
Evan Battey had 12 points and Tristan da Silva scored 11 for Colorado (6-3). It was the Buffaloes' second loss to a ranked opponent this week, following Wednesday's 12-point loss at UCLA.
Colorado scored the first eight points of the game, but within five minutes the Volunteers had closed to within a point and started to take control.
Chandler, whose 29 points marked a career high, hit successive layups and Zakai Zeigler had another in a 10-2 run that gave Tennessee a 26-19 lead with 2:57 left in the half.
Julian Hammond hit a 3-pointer for Colorado, but Chandler scored the last six points of the first half for the Volunteers, who went into the break leading 34-24.
Da Silva opened the second half by hitting a jumper and a 3-pointer to get the Buffaloes within 34-29, but Chandler answered with a 3-pointer, Oliver Nkamhoua converted a three-point play and a pair of baskets inside by Fulkerson made extended Tennessee's lead to 44-33.
Colorado clawed back. When Battey made a layup and K.J. Simpson scored on a dunk, the Buffs had drawn to within 46-41 midway through the second half, but they could get no closer.
Josiah-Jordan James settled things down for Tennessee with a 3-pointer and the Buffaloes missed on the other end. Uros Plavsic hit a layup out of a timeout and soon after Powell hit a 3-pointer, and suddenly the Volunteers' lead had become 58-45 with 6:45 remaining.
Simpson and Battey made two free throws each around another bucket from Chandler, but Fulkerson hit two foul shots to keep Tennessee ahead by double digits.
Colorado finally pulled back to within single-digits (62-53) with two minutes remaining, but Vescovi hit a 3-pointer with 1:54 left to seal the win.
--Field Level Media
Tennessee | Colorado | |
Kennedy Chandler 27 | Scoring | Evan Battey 12 |
Zakai Zeigler 3 | Assists | Keeshawn Barthelemy 4 |
Josiah-Jordan James 9 | Rebounds | Keeshawn Barthelemy 9 |
John Fulkerson 2 | Free Throws Made | Evan Battey 4 |
Josiah-Jordan James 2 | Steals | Tristan Da Silva 1 |
Josiah-Jordan James 4 | Blocks | Jabari Walker 1 |