The Tennessee Volunteers showed up to College Station, Texas on Saturday in their shooting shoes, and it carried them to a much-needed road win over the #7 Texas A&M Aggies 77-69.
Chaz Lanier looked like the elite scorer he was brought in to be, totaling 30 points on 10-18 shooting and 8-13 from beyond the arc. Zakai Zeigler added 16 points and 7 assists with the dagger on a catch and shoot three in the final seconds. Jordan Gainey added 14 points.
Despite the 77 points, it was another slow start offensively for the Vols on the road, as A&M held a 17-8 lead 8.5 minutes into the game. From there, Lanier and the Vols took off. Two Lanier threes and a dunk through the Vols to within 2, and Zeigler splashed home a three for Tennessee’s first lead at 23-22. The teams would go back and forth the rest of the half, but Igor Milicic gave Tennessee the lead back on a three. A Lanier mid-range jumper gave the Vols the lead at 36-32 going into the locker room.
The second half had its moments, but the officials remembered they had whistles and practiced using them for much of the half. Tennessee picked up three touch fouls over a nine-second span in the final ten minutes of the game, and both teams spent much of the time down the stretch at the line.
The Vols fell behind 51-48 with around 8 minutes left, their biggest deficit of the second half, but Lanier tied it on a three, and a Mashack put back gave UT the lead again to keep the game right on its edge.
Tennessee held the slimmest of leads down the stretch – until Gainey knocked down a three to put Tennessee up 6 with two and a half to go to push UT’s margin up to 68-62. The Vols held a 68-65 lead with a minute left when they got the play of the game defensively from Zeigler, who blocked Wade Taylor IV’s three-point attempt followed by a foul on A&M.
Then, on the other end with 20 seconds left, Zeigler delivered again. Out of a timeout with 5 on the shot clock, he took the inbounds, turned, and launched a three that went down. 75-69. Dagger.
It was a win that should keep Tennessee strongly in the conversation for a 1 seed. Next up is LSU on Tuesday night in Baton Rouge at 9:00 pm ET.