Butler was within 2 points. Then wheels fell off in Battle 4 Atlantis loss to Tennessee.

Butler had a chance for a statement win against No. 22 Tennessee, but the Bulldogs fell flat in the second half as the Volunteers pulled away for a 71-45 win.

Here's three reasons Butler suffered a blowout loss to Tennessee.

Volunteers go on a run

Butler scrapped and clawed its way back from a nine-point second-half deficit, getting within two on an alley-oop from Jayden Taylor to Pierce Thomas. Both teams struggled with turnovers, but Butler secured the ball better early in the second half and had a chance to tie or take the lead before things fell apart.

Thomas had an aggressive dunk attempt blocked and Eric Hunter Jr. turned the ball over on a bad pass. Taylor made a heads-up play, swiping the ball back from Zakai Ziegler, but the sophomore guard forced the issue the other way, crashing into Ziegler and drawing a charge. Julian Phillips added a jumper and Santiago Vescovi added the first of three 3s during a 17-1 run that lasted 3 minutes and 12 seconds, putting the game out of reach.

Turnovers plagued Butler throughout. Simas Lukosius committed six of the Bulldogs' 20 turnovers. Hunter and Thomas had four turnovers each. Tennessee turned the mistakes into 18 points. Tennessee's long athletic wings like the five-star freshman Phillips made executing on offense tough for Butler.

"With their size you don't go up against a lot of that size," Butler coach Thad Matta said. "With the rim protectors in there and even the length on the wings, it's just something you don't see every day.

"It's a veteran basketball team. You look at all the seniors they have on the roster and obviously Rick (Barnes) does a great job. He's got those guys playing at a high level."

Manny Bates' first-half foul trouble

Against a long and athletic Tennessee team, Butler needed extended minutes from its shot-blocking 6-11 center. Manny Bates went to the bench after picking up his second foul with 11:10 left in the first half. Taylor extended Butler's lead with a tough stepback 3, but that difficult shot was one of the best looks the 'Dogs generated the rest of the half.

With Bates on the bench, the Bulldogs offense went cold. They could not protect the paint against the hard-charging Vols. And without his presence inside offensively, they had no interior threat to challenge Tennessee's zone defense. The Vols had a 36-14 advantage on points in the paint. They outrebounded the 'Dogs 37-29. Without Bates, D.J. Hughes (6-6) and Thomas (6-5) were often the tallest Bulldogs on the court, putting them at quite the size disadvantage,

After getting off to a scorching start with consecutive double-doubles in his first two games Bates has cooled off. The North Carolina State transfer has combined for nine points and 14 rebounds in his last two, with foul trouble plaguing him for long stretches.

"Manny's got to do better staying out of foul trouble in those situations,” Matta said. “Obviously we need him in there. You can hear him talking on the floor. He understands the game. We've got to be able to play through Manny. … Not having him in the last two games — that's something that definitely hurts us.”

Fatigue sets in

Butler arrived in The Bahamas on Monday, had a physical practice focused on handling Tennessee's pressure defense Tuesday, and took the court against the Vols on Wednesday. Both teams dealt with flights and tight schedules, but Butler does not have the luxury of going to a deep bench.

“We do have depth that we're excited to use,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “We want to push pace and what we ask our guys to do is hard because we want to play up tempo on offense.

“Defensively, we know that we can put people in long possessions and have to play it out. It's tough but yet, the fact that we've got the bench that we have, I do think it played a little bit of a factor in the game.”

Ten Volunteers played against Butler, allowing every player to get rest. Only one player, Vescovi, played more than 30 minutes. Butler used nine players, and both Taylor and Hunter played more than 30 minutes. Hunter has played 36-plus minutes in three of five games. Lukosius played every minute against Penn State and 33 minutes against Saint Francis.

Injuries to Myles Wilmoth, Ali Ali, John-Michael Mulloy and Jalen Thomas have shrunk Butler's lineup. Freshman Connor Turnbull only plays late in games, which makes Butler's nine-man rotation more of an eight-man rotation.

Butler's starters have logged heavy minutes and fatigue – mental and physical – seemed to prevent the Bulldogs from generating any consistency.

“I think we got mentally fatigued and that's something that can happen," Matta said. "We've got to continue to build our mentality. We've got to continue to build our identity. I thought we took a step backwards tonight in terms of doing that. We got punched and we weren't willing to fight back at the level we needed to fight back.”

No. 22 Tennessee 71, Butler 45

TENNESSEE (3-1): Nkamhoua 3-6 3-5 9, Phillips 3-8 5-6 11, Plavsic 3-6 1-2 7, Key 3-6 2-4 9, Vescovi 5-9 0-0 13, Zeigler 3-10 3-4 10, Aidoo 2-2 0-0 4, Mashack 3-6 0-0 6, Awaka 0-0 0-0 0, Edwards 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-54 14-21 71.

BUTLER (3-2): Bates 1-2 2-4 4, Harris 2-7 0-0 4, Hunter 4-11 0-0 8, Taylor 5-8 4-5 18, Lukosius 1-5 1-2 4, P.Thomas 2-5 1-2 5, Hughes 0-3 0-0 0, Tate 0-4 2-2 2, Turnbull 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 15-47 10-15 45.

Halftime—Tennessee 28-23. 3-Point Goals_Tennessee 5-15 (Vescovi 3-7, Key 1-2, Zeigler 1-4, Mashack 0-1, Phillips 0-1), Butler 5-23 (Taylor 4-6, Lukosius 1-4, P.Thomas 0-1, Harris 0-2, Turnbull 0-2, Tate 0-3, Hunter 0-5). Rebounds_Tennessee 28 (Phillips, Plavsic 6), Butler 24 (Hughes 6). Assists_Tennessee 16 (Zeigler 5), Butler 7 (Harris 3). Total Fouls_Tennessee 15, Butler 20.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Butler basketball loses to No. 22 Tennessee in Battle 4 Atlantis