College basketball is back.

No. 18 Tennessee and No. 6 Duke assembled for some premier preseason exhibition action, a matchup that saw the Blue Devils claim a 83-76 victory. The Vols failed to ever establish enough offensive rhythm to run with the high-flying Duke attack.

Nate Ament posted a double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds. Ja’Kobi Gillespie paced Tennessee with 19 points.

Cameron Boozer exploded for a double-double with 24 points and 23 boards. He added six assists.

Vols grab early momentum

For a pair of squads playing in some of their first significant basketball action since last spring, the opening handful of minutes required some kinks to be ironed out.

It took a series of ugly possesions from both sides before Tennessee began to find some offensive rhythm. Ethan Burg started things, nailing a triple to ignite a crowd that might as well have thought this exhibition matchup was taking place in March.

Forward duo Cade Phillips and JP Estrella sparked a 7-0 Vols’ run to grab an eight-point cushion. Estrella showed his skills from range as he connected with a feel-good three, pumping his fists in his first home action since his last season got cut short due to injury.

Duke answered with a 7-0 run of its own to cut the lead to one, but Tennessee fought right back. A new trio of Felix Okpara, Amaree Abram and Jaylen Carey engineered an identical answer to put the Tennessee lead right back to eight.

Ament struggles early

After posting the first points of the evening on a midrange jumper, highly-touted freshman Ament went quiet.

The 6-foot-10 forward entered the halftime locker room on a 3-for-10 showing from the field, coming up blank on four attempts from distance. The Blue Devils’ speed on defense looked to overwhelm the young NBA hopeful in his 16 minutes of first half action.

He needed a statement basket to try and get himself going again, finding the answer in the form of a baseline dunk to finally pick up his third field goal.

DeWayne Brown II emerges

Head coach Rick Barnes knew what he had when the 6-foot-8 forward chose to play his college basketball at Tennessee.

Ironically, DeWayne Brown II only saw six minutes of action allotted to him by his head coach in the first half.

He made them count.

The Hoover, Alabama, product paced the Vols with 10 points at halftime, grabbing a pair of offensive boards in the process. A perfect shooting showing culminated with back-to-back buckets to lead his team to a 43-37 lead at the midway point.

Blue Devils bounce back

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer’s halftime message reminded one of college basketball’s blue bloods who they were.

The Blue Devils stormed out for the second half with a pair of monster runs. The first was of an 8-0 variety, engineered by Isaiah Evans dynamic driving ability and precision from deep. A 9-0 march followed, this time at the hands of Duke star freshman Boozer. The 250-pound phenom controlled each area of the floor for his group, already well on the way to a monster evening.

Tennessee’s shooters went cold, failing to generate a comeback. 

Tennessee will open up the regular season on Nov. 3 when it hosts Mercer.