Two-seed Tennessee held off upset-minded Wofford 77-62 on Thursday night to advance to the Round of 32 in Lexington. UT led wire-to-wire and had answers when the Terriers threatened its lead. It’s the fourth year in a row the Vols have won their first-round March Madness game.
Recap
First half
To start things off, Jamai Mashack hit a three after UT won the tip. We all had that on our bingo cards, right? Point guard Zakai Zeigler tallied three assists early along with five points of his own.
Chaz Lanier’s 14 first-half points provided a cushion for UT to keep Wofford at bay. Mashack also contributed with some nice boards and second-chance layups.
A consistent trend this season is UT accidentally fouling a three-point shooter. This happened again tonight, though fortunately, all three free throws missed.
Though UT led by 14 at one point, the score was only 36-27 at the half. They only mustered three points in the last four minutes of the half.
Second half
Chaz Lanier started things off with a nice jumper. Igor Milicic Jr. added a three and the score was 41-29. He then had a good hustle play, stealing an inbound pass and drawing a foul on the other end.
The teams traded threes and some turnovers as the half continued. A big Chaz three silenced a 6-0 Wofford run; he continued to have the hot hand to keep Wofford at arm’s length.
A Zakai Zeigler three opened things up further for UT with a score of 61-45. He ended the game with 12 points and 12 assists. Speaking of which, the Long Island, New York native passed Johhny Darden as the all-time assist leader for Tennessee, with 726.
Though Wofford got it back within 9 points, the Vols pushed the lead back to 13 and never let things slip the rest of the way. Tennessee big man Felix Okpara was able to create space inside and get some good looks. Some timely misses from Wofford no doubt helped the Vols.
Cade Phillips, off the bench, saw some big minutes in the second half, going 6-8 from the free throw line, good for 75% (a strong improvement from his 52.4% yearly average) and tallying five rebounds in 12 minutes of play.
Reporter Allie LaForce asked Zakai Zeigler after the game how he used his veteran leadership to guide the team.
“It’s our goal to do well in March,” the senior said. “There’s a lot of ups and downs during the season, but we knew it would be worth it. We gotta keep things rolling.”
On being asked about Chaz Lanier’s impact, he responded: “It’s amazing for him. I see him put in a lot of work and I know it’s paying off. I always tell him ‘I got your back’. I’m so glad he’s got his confidence back.” Lanier scored a team-high 29 for the Big Orange.
Takeaways
Throughout the game, UT tended to help often on inside drives while on defense, which prompted Wofford to kick out for open threes. Seeing Tennessee’s defensive strategy in the next game will be interesting.
On the other hand, an early 8/12 start in FGs is the kind of stat Tennessee needs to make a deep March run. Dictating the tempo and avoiding falling behind early are the keys. Of course, inconsistent shooting has been the program’s kryptonite recently.
And so, Tennessee awaits its opponent on Saturday in the Round of 32. The most important thing in the Big Dance is that you survive and advance. The Vols will certainly take the win and move forward with their national championship aspirations still intact.