Duke Miles’ 30-Point Day Sends the Dores to the SEC Semifinals
Duke Miles and the Dores Eliminate Tennessee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Just six days after the Vanderbilt Commodores men’s basketball team took down the rival Tennessee Vols in Knoxville, this matchup brought another additional meeting to Bridgestone Arena in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinal round.
This one belonged to the Dores, as Duke Miles dominated for a season-high 30 points along with six rebounds to take down Tennessee, 75-68.
This was a tight contest as Vanderbilt and Tennessee went back and forth for the whole first half that ended in a 31-all tie going into the half.
Tennessee’s Nate Ament, who’s been willing himself through, was cold from the floor missing his first eight shots, and finished 1-for-13 from the field. He would finish with 12 points and 11 rebounds. 10 of his 12 points came from the free-throw line.
The star for Tennessee was former Belmont Bruin Ja’Kobi Gillespie. Gillespie did his part in keeping Tennessee with a chance in this game by scoring 21 points, including back-to-back threes earlier in the second half to put Tennessee up by seven.
However, the Dores were led by a valiant effort from Duke Miles and Tyler Tanner adding his 19 to the mix as well. When Duke is hot, this team is hard to beat, and when you add Tanner to the mix, there’s no telling how far this team can go.
To put the exclamation point on the game, with 45 seconds to go, Duke Miles threw a perfect alley-oop to Jalen Washington for the slam.
The Dores move on to the SEC Semifinals Saturday against the No. 1 seed Florida Gators. The Gators took the last meeting on January 17 with a score of 98-94.
