LEXINGTON, Ky. — It wasn’t quite drama free but Tennessee basketball knocked off Wofford 77-62 to open up the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
The Vols got high-level performances from star guards Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier to withstand the hot-shooting Terriers. Here’s three quick takeaways on how they got it done.
Tennessee Takes Control With Mid First Half ‘Kill Shot’
Tennessee came out the gates a little bit sloppy, turning the ball over three times before the first media timeout. With the Vols’ slower start, Wofford was able to hang tight with Tennessee in the game’s first seven minutes
That’s when the Vols used an 12-0 “kill shot” run to take control of the game int he first half. Zakai Zeigler made a three-pointer, Chaz Lanier hit a pair of midrange jumpers, Igor Milicic hit a tough runner and Lanier connected from deep on the right wing to put the run together.
The run occurred over a 3:53 stretch of time where Wofford missed a trio of three-pointers and turned the ball over once. Tennessee took a 14-point lead following the run and that gave them some good cushion.
The Vols did not shoot well down the stretch in the first half while Wofford shot 42% from three-point range and star Corey Tripp hit some tough shots in the midrange. The kill shot run meant the Vols still led by nine points at halftime despite the shaky shooting dow the stretch.
Chaz Lanier Hits Shots In First NCAA Tournament Game
It took until Chaz Lanier’s fifth year of college basketball for the shooting guard to play in the NCAA Tournament. He made the most of his first opportunity against Wofford.
Lanier went for a game-high 29 points while knocking down six-of-13 three-point attempts. Rick Barnes has talked this season that the NCAA Tournament has more freedom of movement, at least compared to the physical SEC. Lanier’s six made three-pointers tied the Vols’ single-game NCAA Tournament record.
That proved to be the case in Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament opener. Lanier sprung open off pin down screens quite often and drew fouls when his defender grabbed his jersey while following him around the screens.
Lanier also stepped up for Tennessee in some big moments. When Wofford cut Tennessee’s lead to eight points with a 6-0 second half run, Lanier promptly buried a three-pointer to push the lead back to double digits. Zakai Zeigler was the beneficiary of Lanier’s strong shooting. The senior point guard dished out 12 assists to go along with 12 points.
The 6-foot-4 shooting guard did the majority of his damage on the offensive end of the court but found a few other ways to impact the game. Lanier grabbed five rebounds while recording two steals and a blocked shot.
More From RTI: Tennessee Point Guard Zakai Zeigler Breaks Program Assist Record
Hot-Shooting Wofford Doesn’t Go Away
Tennessee was in control for the vast majority of the game but Wofford refused to go away against the Vols. The Terriers got the one thing they had to get to pull off the upset— strong three-point shooting.
Wofford continued its stretch of games making 10-plus three-pointers by throwing in 11-of-26 (40%) attempts from three-point range. Behind its hot three-point shooting, Wofford turned in a strong three-point shooting performance against the Vols’ highly touted defense.
The Terriers shot 42% from the field on their way to totaling 1.069 points per possession. Cutting off Wofford on the offensive glass was a major point of emphasis for Tennessee and after doing a strong job in the first half, the Terriers had success their in the second half. All-in-all, Wofford totaled 11 offensive rebounds and seven second chance points.
The one area where Tennessee’s defensive did give Wofford issues was the ball pressure. Wofford turned the ball over 11 times and the Vols earned a 14-0 points off turnovers advantage.
Tennessee never truly felt like they were vulnerable of an upset loss but there was never any big second half run and they weren’t able to put the Terriers away until the game’s final minutes
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee is back in action on Saturday when they’ll face either seven-seed UCLA or 10-seed Utah State in the Round of 32. The tipoff time and broadcast details have not been announced.
