BOX SCORE (PDF) | HIGHLIGHTS | VIDEO: CHANDLER ON SEC NETWORK | VIDEO: BARNES POSTGAME | VIDEO: PLAVSIC POSTGAME | VIDEO: CHANDLER POSTGAME
NASHVILLE – The 24th-ranked Tennessee basketball team held off in-state foe Vanderbilt Tuesday at Memorial Gymnasium, securing its sixth straight road win over the Commodores with a 68-60 victory.
Santiago Vescovi led Tennessee (12-5, 3-3 SEC) in scoring with 14 points, also grabbing six rebounds. Uros Plavsic, who was inserted into the starting lineup for the third time this season, scored a season-high 13 points and had seven rebounds in a season-high 21 minutes.
Kennedy Chandler filled the stat sheet with 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, five steals and a block. Zakai Zeigler scored 11 points all at the free throw line, going 11-for-12 at the charity stripe. Zeigler also had four steals.
Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippen Jr., the preseason SEC player of the year, led the Commodores (10-7, 2-3) with 18 points, but was held to just 3-for-10 shooting.
After Tennessee took an eight-point lead on a Plavsic hook shot in the paint with 3:41 remaining, Vanderbilt answered with an 8-0 run, capped by back-to-back threes from Trey Thomas and Pippen Jr. to tie the game at 60 with 1:22 remaining.
The Vols answered on the ensuing trip down the court, as Plavsic put back a missed Zeigler three to put Tennessee in front, 62-60. Zeigler then stole the ball on Vanderbilt’s inbounds pass, was fouled and then knocked down two free throws.
Capped by Vescovi and Zeigler both hitting pairs of free throws in the final 36 seconds of game time, the Vols finished the game on an 8-0 run of their own to seal the win.
For the first 32:19 of game time, neither team led the game by more than four points.
Plavsic finally pushed Tennessee’s lead to five points with an and-one layup with 7:41 remaining, giving the Vols a 50-45 advantage. Tennessee steadily pulled ahead from that point until Plavsic’s hook shot that put the Vols ahead by eight and then led to Vanderbilt’s 8-0 run.
Like the majority of the second half, the first half was a back and forth affair. Tennessee took a 33-32 lead into the halftime break.
Vescovi had nine points for the Vols in the opening period, while Justin Powell had eight. Chandler contributed six points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Tennessee played the final 16 minutes of the first half and the entirety of the second half without starting forward Josiah-Jordan James, who left the game due to injury at the 16:03 mark of the first half and did not return.
UP NEXT: Tennessee returns to Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday for a rematch with No. 13 LSU. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET on ESPN.
VOLS CREATING TAKEAWAYS: Tennessee entered Tuesday’s game ranking seventh in Division I with 10.3 steals per game as a team. Against Vanderbilt, the Vols recorded 14 steals—their second-most against an SEC opponent this season.
The Vols’ point guard duo of Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeigler combined for nine steals.
-UT Athletics
