Game Recap: Men’s Basketball | November 09, 2024
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team turned in a dominant performance in front of 16,976 fans Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center, cruising to a 77-55 victory over homestanding Louisville.
No. 12 Tennessee (2-0) did not trail the entire contest and led by double digits for all but 45 seconds of the final 30 minutes. The Volunteers, who shot a blistering 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc, got a co-game-high 19 points apiece from fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier and senior guard Zakai Zeigler in the thorough decision.
The Volunteers raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first 5:10 and held Louisville (1-1) without a point for the opening 5:25, forcing seven straight misses to open the game. The Cardinals had four turnovers in that stretch, including on each of their first three possessions.
Tennessee, which started 3-of-4 from deep and held Louisville to a 2-of-9 beginning beyond the arc, extended its edge to 16, 29-13, with 7:22 on the first-half timer after scoring eight straight points in 2:27. After missing eight straight field-goal attempts, the Cardinals converted a three-point play, but the Volunteers responded with nine points in a row in 2:33 s to go ahead by 22, 38-16, with 3:18 left in the frame, making it a 17-3 extended run in 6:31.
Louisville responded with a 10-0 burst in 2:16 to get within 12 with 41 seconds on the timer, but a jump-shot at the other by senior guard Jordan Gainey sent Tennessee into the locker room with 40-26 advantage. In a half during which they had 10-0, 9-0 and 8-0 runs, the Volunteers shot 59.3 percent (16-of-27) and held the home team to a 24.2 percent (8-of-33) ledger.
Tennessee sandwiched 3-pointers around a pair of Louisville free throws to open the second session, making it 46-28 with 16:52 to play. At that point, the Volunteers were 6-of-10 from deep, while Louisville had a 5-of-24 mark. The Cardinals missed their next long-range shot, but soon thereafter got back-to-back makes from senior guard Reyne Smith to cap a 10-1 run and make it a nine-point game, 47-38, with 13:17 remaining.
Zeigler countered with a 30-footer at the other end to spark a 22-5 burst—it included two more 3-pointers by Zeigler and one from Lanier—that put the visitors back ahead by a game-high 26 points, 69-43, with 6:38 to play. The spurt ended with 10 consecutive points in 107 seconds. Although the Cardinals scored the next eight points in 61 seconds, they never got the margin under 18 the rest of the way, as Tennessee closed out a convincing road performance with a 22-point triumph.
Eleven of Zeigler’s 19 points came in the final 13 minutes, after Louisville got within single digits. He finished 7-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-7 beyond the arc, adding a game-best seven assists and three steals. Lanier, who scored six of the game’s first eight points, shot 7-of-15, with a 3-of-6 ledger on 3-pointers.
Junior forward Felix Okpara totaled 10 points and six rebounds, while senior guard Jahmai Mashack turned in a dominant all-around performance that included a game-best seven rebounds and a co-team-high three steals, matching Zeigler.
Smith scored 18 points to pace the Cardinals, while sixth-year forward Noah Waterman chipped in 10 points. That duo had 28 points on 8-of-20 field-goal shooting and 7-of-18 3-point shooting, while every other Louisville player accumulated 27 points on 8-of-40 overall shooting and a 3-of-21 long-range clip.
Tennessee finished with an impressive 40-10 margin in paint points, along with 15-5 cushion in second chance points. It started 10-of-16 from beyond the arc, at which point the Cardinals were just 8-of-32.
In total, the Volunteers went 30-of-53 (56.6 percent) from the field while limiting Louisville to a 16-of-60 (26.7 percent) mark at the other end.
Tennessee continues competition Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it welcomes Montana to Food City Center, with tipoff set for 7 p.m., live on SEC Network+.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES
• Head coach Rick Barnes also moved to 204-101 in his Tennessee tenure, matching Don Devoe (204-137 from 1978-89) for second place on the program’s all-time leaderboard.
• Barnes moved to 12-5 against ACC schools—based off the current membership—during his Tennessee tenure, including 11-2 versus all schools other than North Carolina.
• Barnes now possesses 179 victories over programs with a national championship, including 39 in his 10 years at Tennessee.
• The Volunteers are now 6-2 in their last eight road openers, including 4-1 over the last five campaigns.
• Fifth-year guard Darlinstone Dubar (personal matter) missed his second consecutive contest.
• Freshman guard Bishop Boswell made his official college debut, checking in for the final 75 seconds of the contest, and scored his first points on a layup with 17 ticks left.
• The last time Tennessee won by 20-plus in a non-conference regular season road game was Jan. 27, 2018, at Iowa State, a 68-45 decision.
• Over the last 49 seasons (1976-2025), the Volunteers have two prior non-conference regular season road wins by 20-plus over a Division I foe, with the aforementioned triumph at Iowa State and a 76-50 decision at Pittsburgh on Dec. 4, 1999.
• Saturday marked the second time in the last 15 seasons (2010-25) the Volunteers shot over 56.0 percent and conceded a mark under 27.0 percent against a Division I team, joining a Dec. 21, 2022, contest against Austin Peay, also under Barnes’ direction, in which it had 56.3 (36-of-64) percent and 25.5 percent (14-of-55) marks, respectively.
• Despite taking 15 fewer 3-point attempts in the first half, Tennessee had just one fewer make at the intermission, posting a 4-of-8 (50.0 percent) mark and conceding a 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) tally.
• Tennessee had a 9-0 margin in second-chance points in the first half, as well as a 24-4 edge in paint points.
• The Volunteers committed seven fouls in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the second half, putting Louisville in the bonus with 13:31 remaining.
• Tennessee posted five runs of at least 8-0 in the contest, including a 10-0 ledger in each half.
• For the second game in a row, sophomore forward Cade Phillips set a career high in minutes, this time playing 21:09.
