The Tennessee Volunteers wrapped up a perfect pre-conference portion of their season, topping Norfolk State on Tuesday afternoon at the Food City Center at Thompson-Boling Arena 67-52.
Chaz Lanier led the Vols on the scoreboard with 24 points on 8-18 shooting, including 6-16 from beyond the arc. Tennessee managed to get two double-digit performances off the bench. Cade Phillips had 10 points and a game-high 5 blocks with 2 rebounds. Jordan Gainey had 10 points with 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
The game was one that Tennessee held a somewhat comfortable lead throughout, but they never managed to pull away from the pesky Spartans. The Vols jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead after Lanier and Zakai Zeigler splashed home threes, but the Spartans would keep it in the 8 to 12 point range for most of the first half, cutting it to 7 at the halftime whistle after Christian Ings made a nifty runner off the glass at the horn.
Although the lead was closer than it had been in a bit, Tennessee pushed it back to a comfort zone quickly in the second half. Zeigler drained a wide open three from the wing to push it back to a 10-point lead, and the Vols would continue their 9-13 point dance with Norfolk State for most of the rest of the half.
Tennessee finally got up by 14 when Phillips took a feed from a driving Zeigler for a dunk. 5 straight points from Gainey and smothering defense over the next four and a half minutes put Tennessee up by its biggest margin at 63-44, and the Vols held on from there.
The win marked the first time in over 100 years that the Vols started 13-0, per the broadcast. The last team to do it was back during the 1922-23 season. Hard to do better than that.
The Vols start their SEC slate on Saturday against Arkansas in Knoxville at 1:00 pm ET.