Tennessee beats Georgia after a frustrating first half.
On Wednesday night, the Tennessee Basketball Volunteers overcame a lackluster first half against the Georgia Bulldogs to secure their third conference win. The Vols scored only 25 points in the first 20 minutes and trailed the upstart Bulldogs by 1 heading into the break. However, things changed very quickly after the intermission as the Vols started the 2nd half on a 26-4 run and the Bulldogs never cut the deficit back to single digits. The Vols ended up nearly doubling their scoring output in the 1st half with 49 2nd half points, and at the end of the night, the Vols emerged with a 76-54 victory.
Zakai Ziegler led the charge for the Vols as they broke the game open. Ziegler shot 4-8 from beyond the arc, racked up 7 assists, and turned in a defensive masterclass with 6 steals. Ziegler now holds the career steals record for Tennessee basketball. However, the most impressive thing about Ziegler as a player is the leadership and presence he brings to the floor. He simply does what a Senior point guard in the SEC should do when his team is struggling and he may be the single most valuable player to their team in the entire country.
Other good performances for the Vols on Wednesday night included Jahmai Mashack putting up 11 points without missing a shot, Jordan Gainey pouring in 19 points, and Cade Phillips bringing the energy off the bench with 10 points and and 4 rebounds. Not all was perfect for the Vols though as Chaz Lanier continued to struggle from the floor. Chaz went 2-16 against the Bulldogs and 1-9 from beyond the arc. As frustrating as his struggles have been in the last 3 games I’m glad he’s going through a slump and the Vols are still pulling out wins. I’d rather him go through this now than in 10 days when the Vols start a 3-game gauntlet of Auburn, Kentucky, and Florida. Chaz is too good of a shooter for this to last much longer.
Tennessee will head west to Nashville on Saturday to play the Vanderbilt Commodores. Vandy is 14-3 and 2-2 in the SEC under first-year coach Mark Byington. This game is always frustrating for a Tennessee fan when it’s played in Memorial Gymnasium, but no one can deny that these two teams normally play classic entertaining games in that wretched building.