The Tennessee Volunteers are moving on in the SEC Tournament. Tennessee defeated Texas 83-72 on Friday in Nashville in the day’s second quarterfinal.
The Vols were led by Chaz Lanier, who totaled 23 points on 9 of 15 shooting, including 19 points in a red-hot first half. Zakai Zeigler came alive for Tennessee in the second half, putting up all of his 19 points in the second half to go with 6 assists, the latter of which set a single-season program record for assists with 230.
This was a game that stayed pretty competitive until the late stages of the second half. Tennessee’s defense was shaky in the first half, with the Longhorns putting up 38 points. Fortunately for UT, Lanier was unconscious in the frame, putting up 19 points on 8-11 shooting and 2-3 from three. Jahmai Mashack was also solid in the half, posting a key 8 points, with 4 of those coming from the free throw line. Tennessee led 41-38 at the half.
Tennessee managed to keep their lead and extend it slightly out of the locker room, thanks largely in part to Zeigler’s emergence. He put in 6 points in the first three minutes with an assist as Tennessee pushed their lead out to three possessions.
The Vols’ defense finally clamped down, holding Texas to just 3 points over a 4 minute period, which allowed UT to push the lead to a comfortable margin at 61-47 on a three pointer by Jordan Gainey. Texas wouldn’t cut it to single digits again until it was 78-69 with less than a minute to go.
Next up for Tennessee is top-seeded Auburn on Saturday at 1 pm ET. The Tigers eliminated Ole Miss in a tight clash 62-57.