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Game Recap: Men’s Basketball | December 23, 2024
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team increased its season-opening winning streak to a dozen for the third time in program history with an 82-64 win Monday night against Middle Tennessee State.
Facing a halftime deficit for the first time in 2024-25, top-ranked Tennessee (12-0) controlled much of the second stanza to claim the win in front of 20,706 fans at Food City Center. Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier paced the victors with 23 points, while senior guard Zakai Zeigler posted his second straight double-double, notching 17 points and career-high 15 assists, tied for the fifth-most in program history.
The Volunteers scored eight straight points in just 94 seconds midway through the first half to take a 25-14 edge with 9:31 on the timer. However, Middle Tennessee State (9-4) soon put together a 13-2 surge, including seven unanswered points in 55 seconds by redshirt senior guard Camryn Weston, to go in front for the first time, 32-20, with 3:06 left before the break.
After Tennessee leveled the score just 18 seconds later, the Blue Raiders scored eight of the last 10 points in the frame, making it a 21-6 run over the final 6:33 of the frame, to earn a game-high six-point advantage, 40-34, at the intermission. Weston, who capped the scoring on a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left, tallied 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the session.
Tennessee scored nine of the opening 12 points coming out of the locker room, evening the score at 43 with 16:01 to play. Middle Tennessee State thrice went back ahead by three before the Volunteers pulled ahead, 52-51, with 12:21 to go and never conceded the lead. It pushed the cushion to six, 57-51, with 11:09 remaining after making it a 9-0 burst over 1:44.
The Blue Raiders got the deficit down to one, 59-58, with 9:23 to go, but Tennessee then went 5:58 without allowing a field goal—that included 3:35 without a point—and posted a 14-2 run during 5:15 of that span to take a then-game-best 13-point edge, 73-60, with 3:39 left.
The Volunteers eventually won by their largest margin of the night, 18, after scoring the final seven points in the last 1:37 of action.
Lanier, who had his fifth performance of 22-plus points in the last eight games, shot 5-of-10 from 3-point range to lead the team in scoring for the ninth time, including the eighth outright. Zeigler, who logged his 11th-career double-double, scored or assisted on 19 of the team’s 27 made field goals, plus shot 8-of-9 at the line to set season highs in makes and attempts. His 15 assists marked the highest total by a Volunteer since Feb. 28, 1987, and the top figure by an SEC competitor in non-conference play since Nov. 15, 2019.
Junior forward Felix Okpara scored 12 points, including 10 in a first half during which he shot 4-of-4, all on dunks. Senior guard Jordan Gainey added 10 points, six rebounds and a game-best two blocks, while senior forward Igor Miličić Jr., paced all players with 12 rebounds.
Weston led all scorers with 24 points for the Blue Raiders, adding a game-high four steals. He shot 9-of-18 from the field, the most makes by a Tennessee opponent this season, despite missing his final six attempts and scoring just one point in the last 14 minutes. Junior guard Kamari Lands added 13 points on a 5-of-10 field-goal clip for Middle Tennessee State.
Tennessee limited Middle Tennessee State to 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) shooting in the second half, including a 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) mark from beyond the arc. The Volunteers shot 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) from the stripe in the win, while the Blue Raiders went just 7-of-14 (50.0 percent).
Following a one-week hiatus from game action, Tennessee wraps up its non-conference slate Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. against Norfolk State, live on SEC Network+ from Food City Center.
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
• Monday marked the 14th game in program history with Tennessee ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, as it improved to 12-2, including 11-1 in head coach Rick Barnes‘ tenure.
• The Volunteers also upped their record to 26-4 all-time while ranked top-three in the AP Poll, including 22-2 under Barnes.
• Tennessee remained one of the only four undefeated teams in the country and the lone school unbeaten in both men’s and women’s basketball.
• Barnes is now 34-6 (.850) against in-state opponents during his Tennessee tenure, including 17-1 (.944) the last 18 such contests.
• Barnes improved to 14-0 in his career against the current Conference USA membership, his third-most wins without a defeat against any league.
• Middle Tennessee State is the 204th different current Division I program Barnes has defeated during his 38-year head coaching career.
• Tennessee improved to 10-2 all-time versus Middle Tennessee State with the victories by an average of 21.7 points per game, including eight decisions by double digits.
• The Volunteers moved to 12-0 to begin a season for the third time in program history, alongside 1922-23 (14-0) and 1915-16 (finished 12-0).
• Tennessee now has its seventh winning streak of at least 12 games program history, including its fifth in a single season and first since 2018-19 when it claimed a program-best 19 consecutive victories.
• The other four single-season winning streaks of at least a dozen games for Tennessee are as follows: 19 in 2018-19 (Nov. 28 to Feb. 13), 14 in 1922-23 (Jan. 8 to Feb. 20), 12 in 1915-16 (Jan. 8 to Feb. 26) and 12 in 1976-77 (Dec. 11 to Jan. 24).
• As announced before tip-off, the Volunteers played without freshman guard Bishop Boswell (right shoulder injury), leaving them with eight available scholarship players.
• The Volunteers improved to 89-33 all-time when playing in front of 20,000-plus fans at Food City Center, including 30-9 under Barnes, with 24 of the latter 39 over the past four years (2021-25).
• Monday marked the first time in 2024-25 the Volunteers trailed at halftime and/or conceded 36-plus points before the break.
• Weston’s 17 first-half points tied for the most in a frame by a Tennessee opponent this season, matching the mark by Baylor’s Norchad Omier after the break Nov. 22 in Nassau, Bahamas.
• The seven made field goals by Weston in the first half set a new high in a session by a Volunteer foe this year, eclipsing the second-half mark of six by both Omier and his teammate, V.J. Edgecombe, in the matchup with Baylor.
• Weston shot 9-of-12 in the first 26 minutes of the contest, already setting a new top mark for the most made field goals in a full game by a single player against Tennessee in 2024-25.
• The Volunteers have led for 412:43 of a possible 480 minutes thus far in 2024-25, while trailing for only 43:39.
• Tennessee has held a lead of 18-plus points in 11 of its 12 contests this season, including by 26 in all but three, and still has not faced a deficit larger than eight.
• Eleven of Tennessee’s 12 wins thus far are by 13-plus points, with seven by at least 22, four by at least 35 and two by 40-plus.
• Zeigler, who now has back-to-back double-doubles for the first time as a Volunteer, upped his career double-double mark to 11.
• Ten of Zeigler’s 11 double-doubles are with points and assists, giving him twice as many in that category as any other player in program history.
• Monday marked the 11th double-figure assist outing of Zeigler’s career, including his third of the 2024-25 campaign.
• Zeigler’s previous career-best assist mark came on Feb. 24, 2024, when he registered 14 against Texas A&M.
• The most recent SEC player to post 15-plus assists in a game was Kentucky’s TyTy Washington Jr., who notched 17 on Jan. 8, 2022, against Georgia, while the last to do so in non-conference play was Auburn’s J’Von McCormick on Nov. 15, 2019, against Cal State Northridge.
• Over the last three seasons (2022-25) there are just four occurrences of an SEC player amassing 13-plus assists in a game, with Zeigler owning three of those performances, as he also did so Feb. 24, 2024, versus Texas A&M (14) and Feb. 2, 2024, at Kentucky (13).
• Zeigler’s 15 assists matched Fred Jenkins’ tally on Feb. 28, 1987, against Georgia for the fifth-most in Tennessee history, with that also the most recent performance of 15-plus assists by a Volunteer.
• Zeigler is one of just two players in program history to record 14-plus assists multiple times, joining Rodney Woods, who did so on Feb. 1, 1975, at Georgia (16) and Feb. 3, 1973, against Auburn (14).
• Miličić recorded double-digit rebounds for the 19th time in his career, including the fifth in 12 outings as a Volunteer.
• Lanier connected on at least four made 3-pointers for the 22nd time as a collegian, including the seventh in just 12 games at Tennessee.
• In half of those 22 contests, Lanier has now hit at least five 3-pointers, with this his third such performance as a Volunteer.
• Lanier now owns 20 total 20-point showing in his career, including five thus far in his lone year as a Volunteer.
• Over the last eight games, Lanier has scored 22-plus points five times and led Tennessee in scoring on seven occasions.
• Gainey has now tallied multiple blocks in three of the last four games, including each of the past two, after doing so five times in his first 108 outings.
