Tennessee shooting guard Chaz Lanier is the SEC Player of the Week after turning in a pair of big performances in the Vols’ two wins at the Baha Mar Championship.
Lanier earned tournament MVP honors after averaging 25.5 points and four rebounds in Tennessee’s wins over Virginia and Baylor. The transfer shooting guard caught fire in the second half of the Vols’ win over Virginia, hitting four-of-eight attempts from deep on his way to a 26 point performance.
That second half was impressive but he one-upped himself the next day against Baylor when he made five three-pointers in the first five minutes on his way to a 25 point performance on seven-of-10 shooting from three-point range.
After the strong week in the Bahamas, Tennessee is 6-0 and up to No. 7 in this week’s AP Poll. This week is the first of the season where Tennessee is in the nation’s top 10.
More From RTI: Tennessee Basketball Jumps Into Top 10 In Latest Associated Press Poll
Tennessee needed the North Florida transfer to be a reliable scorer in his first season in the SEC and Lanier is off to a nice start. He’s averaging 17.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists through six games this season and has been his best in Tennessee’s three games against power five opponents, totaling 19-plus points in all three contests.
Lanier was one of the top shooters in the transfer portal this offseason and he’s looked like it early in his Tennessee tenure. He’s shooting 23-of-42 (54.8%) from three-point range so far this season and is on pace to be just the second player in Rick Barnes’ Tennessee tenure to make 100 three-pointers in a single season.
This is not only the first time this season that Lanier has earned SEC Player of the Week honors but it is the first time that any Tennessee player has earned SEC weekly honors this week.
Tennessee has played six of its 13 non conference games so far and still has three games remaining against power five opponents— Syracuse, Miami and No. x Illinois.
The Vols are back in action on Wednesday when they host UT Martin at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Tipoff is at 4 p.m. ET and the SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
