2022 All-Star Reserves Announced
Tennessee earned its fifth straight SEC win Saturday, using a dominant second half to blowout South Carolina, 81-57.
The Vols led for most the first half, but failed to gain much traction after a hot shooting start cooled off the rest of the first half. Tennessee led by just three a few minutes into the second half when Zakai Zeigler sparked a 12-0 Tennessee run with 10 straight points.
“Zakai hit those two big threes, they called timeout,” Barnes said. “He came to the bench and threw up. He spit up on me and then got up and went to the trashcan and threw up. Came back and sat down, we said, ‘are you okay?’ He said ‘I’m good’ and came back out and scored a basket. It was one of those days for him in the second half where he really responded well.”
The run eventually ballooned to a 35-12 run that ended any chance South Carolina had.
The Vols’ defense was suffocating throughout the game, but particularly in the second half where they recorded seven steals. Zeigler, Kennedy Chandler and Josiah Jordan James each recorded three steals in the win.
James was fantastic on both ends of the court for the second straight game. The South Carolina native scored 15 points in the first half and finished with a career high 20 points, making four three-pointers. On the defensive end, James added three blocks to go with his three steals.
The scary news in the strong game was Olivier Nkamhoua exiting the game in the second half and not returning again. Barnes said Nkamhoua has an ankle injury that he’s unsure on the significance of.
The junior forward came back on the bench in his game clothes for the final minutes of the game.
Barnes also discussed the hot three-point shooting and the four-guard lineup Tennessee played most of the second half.
