Tennessee beats Virginia, moves on to face Baylor in the Baha Mar Championship Game

A big night for Chaz Lanier.

After a thrilling Baylor-St. John’s game played on the same floor just 30 minutes before, Tennessee and Virginia brought the energy way on down — at least on the offensive end of the floor. You knew this matchup was going to generate a struggle to score, and that’s exactly what you got early on.

Back to back three-pointers from Chaz Lanier and Igor Milicic finally got the Volunteers going midway through the first half. Both sides started slow, as you might expect a couple of defense-first programs to do.

A whopping eight to eight was the score at the midway mark of the first half before a couple of shots finally fell for the Volunteers. Tennessee, playing without Cameron Carr and JP Estrella, was operating with just nine scholarship players tonight.

Darlinstone Dubar made his official debut for Tennessee early on, checking in off of the bench to quickly grab a bucket and a board. The 6-8 Hofstra transfer has missed the first four games due to a personal matter.

Lanier would hit another three to push the lead out to seven points, but Virginia would work back before halftime. Andrew Rohde nailed a three of his own to cut the Tennessee lead down to 22-21 at the break. Both teams were shooting an ugly 30 percent from the floor, with the rebounding battle even.

Lanier, who was noticeably more aggressive tonight than we’ve seen through the first four games, connected on back to back three-pointers to open the half. He scored with 1,000th career point to increase the Tennessee lead back to six. A couple of minutes later he would hit again, making the lead nine points with 15 minutes to play.

It’s safe to say that Chaz was feelin’ it.

The Tennessee defense was taking over on the other end of the floor. The Cavaliers scored just three points on one field goal during the opening seven minutes of the half. Tennessee was also taking over on the boards, generating several second chance putbacks at the rim. Very quickly, Tennessee had Virginia doubled up in the offensive rebounding category.

Virginia needed a spark quickly, and they finally found one with back to back three-pointers of their own. The Cavaliers found some rare daylight to cut the lead back down to five, but Milicic had the answer. The Charlotte transfer hit from long range, then went to work in the post for two more.

Jordan Gainey then took his turn, converting an and-one opportunity, then drawing a foul on the next possession to add two more from the stripe.

The Tennessee lead was back to 15 points with six minutes to play, and you got the feeling that would be enough to close this one out — and it was.

The Volunteers went on to win, 64-42

Tennessee-Virginia final stats

Chaz Lanier: 26 points (6-12 from 3pt)

Igor Milicic: 14 points, 8 rebounds

Zakai Zeigler: 2 points (1-9 from the field, 0-6 from 3pt), 6 assists, 4 rebounds

Felix Okpara: 4 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks

Something that won’t really show up in the stats was the defensive effort of Jahmai Mashack. Not only did he blanket Virginia’s leading scorer (Isaac McKneely, 16 ppg — scored just four points tonight) all night long, but he found several deflections, multiple steals and even a couple of blocks. It’s sometimes tough to quantify elite defense, but you see it every night Mashack hits the floor.

Tennessee to face Baylor in the Baha Mar Championship Game

Tennessee moves on to face No. 13 Baylor in the championship game tomorrow night. The Bears won in dramatic fashion, going the length of the floor and drilling a buzzer-beater three to beat St. John’s.

Tip-off is set for 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday night on CBS Sports Network.