NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Life on the road is quite the challenge in SEC play and Tennessee experienced that first hand in its 76-75 loss at Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon.
But the Vols fell in a way they rarely do with Vanderbilt torching Tennessee’s usually daunted defense. Tennessee put together a phenomenal late comeback bid but it came up just short. Here’s three quick takeaways on the matchup.
Vanderbilt Takes Control After Zakai Zeigler Picks Up Second Foul
Zakai Zeigler was the best player on the court for the game’s first 13 minutes. Then he picked up his second foul with 7:10 to play in the first half and the game completely flipped.
Zeigler fouled a three-point shooter and Jason Edwards made all three free throws to cut Tennessee’s lead to two points. That started a stretch of Vanderbilt outscoring Tennessee 20-9 to end the first half.
The Vols’ offense was largely lifeless with Zeigler on the bench, struggling to create any rhythm or juice. They made just one field goal the rest of the half, a Chaz Lanier triple, while turning it over three times. Without Zeigler creating offense, Tennessee struggled to create open looks.
Of course, Tennessee’s defense is usually strong enough to avoid big runs when the offense is struggling but they failed to stack stops against the Commodores.
The killer came on the final possession of the first half. Tennessee had cut the deficit to two points and Vanderbilt had the ball with the shot clock off. Tyler Nickel proceeded to hit an and-one triple to push the difference to six points at the intermission.
Vanderbilt Torches Tennessee’s Defense Like Few Do
Tennessee’s defense is its bread and butter and is typically its steadying force on the road, especially if shots aren’t falling. But Vanderbilt found a way to put Tennessee on its heels and make life difficult for the Vols’ defense like very few teams do.
Vanderbilt scored 41 points in the first half on an incredibly impressive 1.323 points per possession. Perhaps the most surprising part is that the made just three-of-11 three-point attempts. But the Commodores did a great job scoring at the rim, particularly after Felix Okpara picked up his second foul.
Hitting shots came in the second half for Vanderbilt as the Commodores made five-of-10 three-point attempts. Tennessee opened the second half on a quick 5-0 run to cut the deficit to one point. Vanderbilt proceeded to hit four three-pointers on the next four possessions to go on a 12-0 run.
And when Tennessee did get stops, they struggled to end possessions with rebounds. Vanderbilt totaled 12 offensive rebounds to Tennessee’s 17 defensive rebounds.
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Chaz Lanier Hits Shots But Struggles Elsewhere
Tennessee shooting guard Chaz Lanier entered the game on quite the shooting slump, making four-of-24 three-point attempts over the last three games.
The Nashville native shot the ball much better against Vanderbilt, scoring 17 points on four-of-six shooting from three-point range. But Lanier struggled badly elsewhere.
Lanier turned the ball over five times with a handful of those turnovers leading to Vanderbilt baskets. In the previous mentioned stretch when Vanderbilt pushed its lead from one point to 13 points, Lanier had a turnover and a badly missed midrange jumper that led to open Commodore three-pointers.
Following the Georgia game, Barnes talked about Lanier doing things well outside of shooting. The Vanderbilt game was the exact opposite.
The game ended in heartbreak for Lanier as he missed the game tying free throw with two seconds remaining.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee returns to Knoxville on Tuesday night when they’ll host Mississippi State at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET and ESPN2 is broadcasting the game.
