Tennessee dominates Louisville on the road, Zeigler and Lanier combine for 38
Chaz Lanier, Zakai Zeigler and Cade Phillips led the Tennessee Volunteers over Louisville Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center. Tennessee jumped to a 10-0 lead and never looked back, putting Louisville away 77-55.
The above trio combined for 45 of the Vols’ 77 points, with Lanier and Zeigler doing most of the work in the scoring department. Lanier continued his hot start to the season by hitting 3 of his 6 attempts from range, but he was also able to find success in the midrange and at the rim.
Admittedly, this was one of Zeigler’s weirder games. The Vols’ star point guard was a pest on the defensive end – no surprise there – but also posted 11 turnovers, most of which occurred in the first half. Zeigler made up for his struggles in the first half with a stellar final 20 minutes.
As Louisville chipped away at Tennessee’s lead, Zeigler caught fire. The below 3 started Zeigler’s campaign to stamp out any attempt at a legitimate comeback.
FROM DEEP.
ACC Network
https://t.co/7Lzpcs8msx pic.twitter.com/Js3cZcmdvR— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) November 9, 2024
Phillips was arguably Tennessee’s best player in the first half. He filled in for Igor Milicic, who left the game early after 2 quick fouls, and posted his best minutes to date in a Tennessee uniform. The box score doesn’t show it all – he had 6 points and 6 rebounds and 1 block – but Phillips was excellent for the Vols and should calm the nerves of any Tennessee fan worrying about frontcourt depth moving forward.
Felix Okpara had a strong 2nd half for Tennessee after an underwhelming performance against Gardner-Webb. Louisville doesn’t have much of a post presence, so Okpara was able to be dominant on the boards as Louisville started to find some semi-consistent offense. That, along with Tennessee’s suffocating defense, all but did it for Pat Kelsey’s squad.
Tennessee is back in action on Wednesday, facing a good Montana program out of the Big Sky.
Good early season road win. GO VOLS!