Tennessee basketball failed to get its offense going for the first 20 minutes before using a blazing start to the second half to coast past No. 23 Georgia 74-56 on Wednesday night in Knoxville.
Three quick takeaways as Tennessee downed Georgia for its fifth straight win in the series.
Zakai Zeigler Sparks Dominant Run To Open The Second Half
Tennessee trailed by two points at the break with an offense that was largely lifeless. But the Vols came out the gates absolutely smoldering to take control of the game and deliver a knockout blow in the process.
It started the half on a 7-0 run with a pair of buckets from Jahmai Mashack including his first made triple of SEC play. Zeigler started fueling the run after that without scoring, totaling multiple steals that helped lead to transition buckets and what turned into a 15-1 Tennessee run.
Zeigler’s stout defense continued after that and then his offense joined him. He hit a trio of three-pointers in 70 seconds that pushed the run to 25-4 and gave the Vols a 19-point lead. Georgia never cut the deficit to single-digits again.
The senior point guard was brilliant against the Bulldogs, going for 16 points, seven assists and six steals. He also became Tennessee’s new all-time steal leader.
Tennessee Wins Turnover And Offensive Rebounding Battle
Both Tennessee and Georgia entered this game as two of the nation’s best offensive rebounding teams and as teams good at forcing turnovers with small turnover issues themselves.
Tennessee’s ability to earn the win despite shooting so poorly in the first half was largely because of the way they dominated in those two statistics.
Georgia turned the ball over 19 times and Tennessee turned it into nine points. On the other side, Tennessee turned the ball over just 10 times.
The Vols were more physical than Georgia from the jump and out-rebounded the Bulldogs 35-29 with an 18-11 advantage on the offensive end.
Tennessee winning those two battles the way they did made Georgia winning on the road very unlikely.
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Chaz Lanier’s Struggles Continue
Tennessee shooting guard Chaz Lanier was the SEC’s leading scorer before he combined for 20 points in two road games last week.
Despite returning to home, Lanier’s struggles continued against Georgia. He missed an open look on the second possession of the game and he was unable to get in a rhythm after that. Georgia did a good job limiting Lanier’s open looks and he missed badly on a few.
He also missed an open layup early in the game that failed to get him in a rhythm. Lanier didn’t get on the board until there was less than a minute remaining in the first half. The midrange jumper was his ninth shot attempt of the game.
Lanier finished the game with just five points on a dreadful two-of-16 shooting and one-of-nine shooting in the game.
Tennessee’s offense struggled to find consistency with Lanier struggling, particularly in the first half where the Vols scored just 25 points in the first half on 27% shooting from the field.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee heads on the road on Saturday afternoon where they’ll face Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville. Tipoff is at 3:30 p.m. ET. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
