AAC Tournament Preview: Take UCF (+9.5) To Cover The Points Against Memphis
TAMPA, Fla — They say guard play wins games in March.
Tennessee’s guards started postseason play fantastically, controlling the game in the Vols’ complete, 72-59, victory over Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals.
First Team All-SEC selection Santiago Vescovi was solid, throwing in a pair of threes in a double-digit scoring outing, but it was Tennessee’s freshmen point guards that took over at Amalie Arena Friday night.
Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeigler combined for 22 points, 14 assists, five steals and just one turnover in the win.
“It’s fun,” Josiah-Jordan James said of playing when the guards play well. “I’m thankful and grateful that I get to play with all my teammates, but specifically those guys because they just make the game so easy for everybody around them, so, yeah, it’s a lot of fun playing with them when they’re playing their best basketball.”
Chandler took control of the game in the first half scoring nine points and dishing out five assists. The five-star point guard did it while missing time with a “lower body injury” that appeared to be an injured right ankle.
The Memphis native played just 27 minutes and that thrust his fellow freshman Zakai Zeigler into a bigger role.
“Honestly, no, because I already knew just like Josiah said, next man up,” Zeigler said on if anything changed with Chandler out. “I’m just always prepared as well as my other teammates. So I just always knew to be ready.”
Zeigler was ready indeed. With Chandler sidelined for nearly 11 straight minutes in the second half, the Long Island native took complete control of the game, dishing out six assists while scoring in transition a number of times.
The fantastic point guard play pushed Tennessee to one of its better offensive performances of the season. While Tennessee has scored more than 72 points plenty, its 1.20 points per possession was one of its most impressive marks.
The Vols shared the ball brilliantly, assisting on 22 of their 29 made baskets as five Tennessee players scored in double-digits and John Fulkerson wasn’t far behind with eight points.
“We do a good job normally,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “We’re not dribbling the air out of the ball and we’re moving the ball, cutting and they made us dribble a little more than we probably wanted to tonight because, again, they’re extremely well-coached team, and they were putting some pressure on us, but when we’re moving the ball and we have player movement, ball movement, that’s when we play our best basketball. We don’t have one guy on the team that’s selfish, and so that’s how we normally like to play.”
Tennessee’s strength in SEC play has been its guard play and particularly its two freshmen point guards. That bodes well for tournament play and we saw the first results of that tonight.
The Vols will look to continue that success on Saturday when they face Kentucky at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET.
